In what was one of the more duh! moves of the offseason, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers gave wide receiver Chris Godwin the Franchise Tag.
Sure, Godwin, 26, is/was coming off a season-ending knee injury at the time of the tag. But despite that, there was an expectation he would be a hot commodity had he hit the free agent market. Instead, getting the tag and returning to Tampa Bay was a sensible move for both Godwin (getting short-term cash flow and the opportunity to re-enter the market after proving his health) and the Bucs (keeping a two-time 1,100+ yard receiver and Pro Bowler is nice).
But after seeing the Bucs sign free agent receiver Russell Gage to a multi-year deal worth $10 million per year, I’m suddenly wondering about Godwin’s fit. And in the wake of this reporting from Tampa-based reporter Greg Auman, now I’m wondering about Godwin as a possible tag-and-trade candidate:
Could the Bucs tag and trade Chris Godwin? They love him, but they have major cap issues, have oversigned at receiver and can do a ton of re-signing with the $19 million in cap space he takes up if they can't sign him to a longterm deal. Strong demand for him despite knee injury.
— Greg Auman (@gregauman) March 16, 2022
This is a situation worth keeping tabs on, especially since the Bears have yet to make a splash offseason addition to their offense. And Godwin would certainly be just that for this Bears team. Of course, swinging such a deal will be a challenge in the first place.
The reality is that tag-and-trade deals don’t happen often. However, we do have the recent-ish case of Jarvis Landry. Back in 2018, the Dolphins gave Landry the Franchise tag with the intent of trading him. Because Miami knew it would have suitors for Landry, tagging him and using it to strike the balance of sending a player somewhere he was wanting to go and getting something of value in return for losing a quality player made the most sense. As it turns out, that is exactly what went down. Landry ultimately found himself with the Browns, who gave the Dolphins fourth- and seventh-round picks in that year’s draft. Landry put together two Pro Bowl seasons (including an 1,174-yard receiving year) to start his Browns career.
In other words, that Landry deal could provide parameters for what the Bucs could be asking for in a trade. Not to say Landry and Godwin are similar players. They might play the same position, but the two have different strengths and skills. It isn’t an apples-to-apples comparison, but more like weighing apples and oranges. They are still both fruits, and you’d want ’em by the bunches.
The Bears aren’t a team with much draft capital. But after seeing receiver Amari Cooper and guard Shaq Mason go in trades for fifth-round picks, this could be a buyer’s market.