Do not expect for Chris Godwin to play for anyone other than the Tampa Bay Buccaneers throughout his playing career. The former third-round pick out of Penn State has spent his entire NFL career playing for the Buccaneers, dating back to 2017. While he supposedly got a bigger contract offer from the New England Patriots this past offseason, he opted to take less money to stay in Tampa Bay.
In Dan Pompei's latest for The Athletic ($), he touched on why it made all the sense in the world for Godwin to re-up with the Buccaneers rather than go play for a potentially ascending team like the Patriots. He wrote that the Patriots were willing to give Godwin a multi-year contract worth $30 million annually. Godwin signed a three-year deal worth $66 million, averaging $22 million in annual salary to stay put.
Buccaneers general manager Jason Licht told Godwin's representation that they would love to have him back, but due to financial constraints and Godwin's injury history, they could only go so far on a deal. I think for Godwin and his wife, being completely comfortable being in Tampa, it made all the reason in the world to leave well enough alone and stay with the organization that believes in him.
These are the type of financial decisions key to sustaining winning, but often hard to actually realize.
Why Chris Godwin re-upping with Tampa Bay Buccaneers makes sense
In Pompei's feature, it became abundantly clear that Godwin does not play for the money or the glory. He plays for something much more sentimental. He plays for his teammates. It may have been said in jest, but there is reason to believe that Godwin has fellow Buccaneers teammate Mike Evans as one of the beneficiaries in his will. It just shows the amount of authenticity Godwin brings to work daily.
What I found the most interesting from this article is a better understanding of how strong the Buccaneers' football culture seems to be. A lot of franchises will talk ad nauseam about how great their supposed culture is, but Godwin seems to be putting his money where his mouth is. Sacrificing and taking less for the greater good, knowing all too well this decision will pay out in dividends later.
Tampa Bay has been the top dog in the division I follow the most closely for a while now. It had been hard for me to understand why that is the case, outside of Licht being an elite general manager, as well as the back-half of the division constantly being in a state of flux. I know realize that it is the ethos of the star players in their core like Godwin who are really driving the bus here with the Buccaneers.
At this point, I would be stunned if Godwin ends up playing for somebody else before he does retire.