The Bucs have an enormous choice to make, and the window to make it simply opened. All groups are actually on the clock to make use of their franchise tag designation for any pending free brokers they wish to stop from attending to the open market. It’s an costly possibility. Relying on the kind of tag it prices most groups the equal of the highest 5 or high 10 salaries on the place. And there is just one participant who the Bucs would even think about using the tag on. Chris Godwin.
The Franchise Tag Defined
Bucs WR Chris Godwin – Picture by: Cliff Welch/PR
The franchise tag is a mechanism groups can use to maintain a pending free agent beneath contract for a single yr at a close to high of the market wage. Listed below are the projected salaries for every place for 2025 through Over The Cap.
There are two varieties of tags. The franchise tag prevents the participant from negotiating with some other group. He’s locked into the one-year contract on the tag value. The transition tag permits the participant to nonetheless negotiate with and even conform to a contract with one other group. However it additionally permits the tagging group to match the provide and maintain the participant on the agreed upon contract. If the participant makes no settlement with one other group they’ll get the one-year deal on the transition tag price.
Chris Godwin’s Historical past With The Franchise Tag
The Bucs used the franchise tag a number of occasions throughout their Bruce Arians/Tom Brady Tremendous Bowl window to assist maintain premier expertise beneath contract. The primary time was in 2020 after they used the tag on Shaq Barrett following his electrical 19-sack season in 2019. They used it once more 2021 to maintain Godwin beneath contract after his rookie contract was up. The price of that tag was a modest $15,983,000. Tampa Bay used the tag a second time on Godwin the next yr as a stopgap to the eventual three-year, $60 million extension the 2 sides agreed upon. It’s that deal Godwin has simply accomplished this previous yr.
And therein lies the rub. The franchise tag value for Godwin shouldn’t be the identical because the generic vast receiver tag quantity listed above. For gamers who’ve beforehand been tagged there’s a premium they’re owed on future tags. A second tag requires a 20% increase on their earlier yr’s wage. That was the worth the Bucs needed to pay in 2022 after they positioned the second tag on Godwin. Had the 2 sides not agreed to the extension they might have paid him $19,179,600.
Bucs WR Chris Godwin – Picture by: Cliff Welch P/R
However a 3rd tag? That comes with a 44% increase on the participant’s earlier yr’s wage cap hit or the tag quantity for the very best paid place within the NFL. Godwin earned $20 million final yr. Godwin’s cap hit in 2024 was $27,534,000. A 44% improve would put his 2025 tag quantity at $39,648,960. And the projected tag quantity for quarterback is $41,325,000. That might make Godwin the very best paid receiver within the NFL by a rustic mile. The present highest-paid receiver is Justin Jefferson who’s making $35,000,000 per yr. This could be a 18% improve over Jeffersons APY. That’s quarterback cash. The Bucs are solely paying Baker Mayfield $33,333,333 per season.
Godwin is a incredible receiver. He was having an amazing season earlier than a dislocated ankle ended his 2025 marketing campaign midway by means of the season. Given his tempo previous to the damage, he had a shot at changing into a $30 million receiver. However the damage has dampened these prospects fully. Godwin’s open market worth is sitting simply round $20 million. My very own projections have him at $19 million per yr. Professional Soccer Focus has him at $20 million.
These valuations are half the price of the tag because it pertains to Godwin’s distinctive state of affairs. So, no. The Bucs won’t be utilizing the franchise tag on him. Godwin’s final contract has already tolled, so Tampa Bay will take up $18,852,000 in lifeless cash from his most up-to-date deal. The 2 sides have each expressed curiosity in a brand new deal, and that’s nonetheless what we at Pewter Report anticipate to occur. However it won’t be on a tag.
