Buccaneers expected to retain Chris Godwin and tag Carlton Davis III
The season of questions, lies, and speculation is upon as the 2022 NFL Combine kicks off this week. However, recent news pertaining to the futures of Chris Godwin and Carlton Davis III does not fall under that category. Per Scott Reynolds of PewterReport.com, the Buccaneers are expected to keep Godwin in Tampa Bay on a […]
The season of questions, lies, and speculation is upon as the 2022 NFL Combine kicks off this week.
However, recent news pertaining to the futures of Chris Godwin and Carlton Davis III does not fall under that category.
Per Scott Reynolds of PewterReport.com, the Buccaneers are expected to keep Godwin in Tampa Bay on a long-term deal. For Davis, Reynolds says the Buccaneers will tag him with the hope of working out a long-term deal of his own.
If the Bucs use the franchise tag on Davis, then it will mark the third straight offseason in which they've used the tag on a player. Jason Licht tagged Shaquil Barrett after he led the NFL with 19.5 sacks in 2019 and tagged Godwin in 2021 after a strong 2020 campaign.
Neither tag led to a long-term deal in the year they were tagged, but the Buccaneers were able to work something out with Barrett last year. That resulted in a four-year, $68 million deal that included $34.25 million guaranteed.
Godwin's market value is currently estimated at a little over $18 million per year, according to Spotrac.com. It's a fair asking price for a receiver that can literally do it all. Godwin can play outside and/or in the slot and he's also one of the premier run-blocking receivers in the NFL.
It will be interesting to see how the Buccaneers handle Godwin's -and their other free agents'- contracts if they do in fact tag Davis. Overthecap.com projects the franchise tag for cornerbacks to cost $17.295 million in 2022. The key with tagging a player is there is no way to manipulate that cap hit. It all comes straight off the top, therefore, Davis will cost exactly that in 2022.
As it stands, the Buccaneers are $1.3 million over the cap when it comes to effective cap space. Tagging Davis will make re-signing the other free agents that much harder, but as we saw last year – anything is possible.
You can read more of Reynold's piece, here.
Featured image via-Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports
