NFL.com on Chris Godwin: Buccaneers have ‘highest priority free agents’

Wide receiver Chris Godwin is expected to receive the team’s franchise tag during the NFL tag window, which starts today and runs through March 9, before the free agency starts on March 17. This off-season is a little different, as Buccaneers will try to keep most of their players off their Super Bowl roster, including Godwin.

But there are many pieces to the successful Bucs Super Bowl puzzle.

That’s why NFL.com writer Adam Schein thinks the Bucs should stay away from Godwin because there are more important guys to focus on.

Now, this is no a free agent classifier. Chris Godwin is an excellent versatile receiver, a landmark who is about to turn 25. I didn’t put it on the list. Why? The Buccaneers summoned Tyler Johnson last year. Antonio Brown should be back. And Tampa Bay has free agents of higher priority.

One of those top priority free agents is defender Shaquil Barrett, who Schein thinks the Bucs need to make a deal so Barrett doesn’t run away from them this season.

I agreed with the Jason Licht Barrett franchise last season. After a 19.5-bag campaign in 2019, the Bucs GM wanted to make sure it wasn’t a fluke. It was not. No, Barrett did not double the bag total, but he stopped offenses when it mattered most. Now, the man deserves to be paid, a sentiment he rightly expressed on my SiriusXM radio show a few weeks ago.

Shaq continues to learn and Tampa continues to win. Make the long-term deal happen, Bucs.

In another tag viewing post on Greg Rosenthal’s NFL.com, where he feels that certain players do not need to be marked, he mentions that Bucs must undoubtedly mark Godwin and that this decision should be “easy” to make. However, he also recognizes that if Godwin is hired, Barrett and perhaps even Lavonte David will leave.

It will be extremely interesting weeks for Tampa Bay.