ADP: 52nd (WR27)
Not many people are sleeping on Chris Godwin. You're not if you read my buy-low piece from a year ago.
Heading into his third year, he's shown well when given the opportunity to play significant snaps, and everyone knows DeSean Jackson wants out of Tampa Bay, creating a path to more targets for Godwin.
Again, Godwin is valued as a top-30 wideout despite having more than 80 yards in just five of his 32 career games. People are expecting big things from him in 2019 and beyond.
Usually, when a player's price is driven up by an expected breakout, it's not worth buying high. Godwin is an exception.
First, let's look at the Bucs' 2019 outlook. It looks like D-Jax is done in Tampa, and slot man Adam Humphries, an unrestricted free agent, may be a goner, too. Even if one of them returns, Godwin is in line for a boost in target share. On top of that, Bruce Arians should be able to help Jameis Winston and the Bucs' passing game. Things are coming up roses here.
Now let's look at Godwin's profile. Coming out of college, he was a really intriguing prospect. While his on-field numbers were solid at Penn State (76th percentile in yards per grab and 78th percentile in breakout age, per PlayerProfiler), what really got the juices flowing was his combine results.
Whoo boy.
Lastly, Godwin has been really good when given meaningful looks. Over his 32 career games, he's seen at least seven targets in eight games. In those eight outings, he's averaged 4.9 catches, 71.4 yards and 0.62 touchdowns.
Is that cherry-picking stats on my part? For sure. Are we dealing with a small sample? Absolutely. But I'm trying to show that when he's been given a good amount of looks, he's produced, and his averages in said split could look even better if not for a miserable 10-target, 1-catch, 13-yard game in Week 14 of this past year.
Godwin was a little hit-or-miss last season -- mostly due to an inconsistently weekly role -- but he had three 100-yard games over the Bucs' final eight weeks of the year. Classmates of Godwin, Corey Davis (WR20 right now) has two 100-yard outings in 27 career games, and Kenny Golladay (WR16) has three 100-yard efforts in 26 games. Godwin might just be good at football.
Godwin checks a lot of boxes -- impressive prospect, has flashed when given the chance and appears to be in line for a jump in volume -- and is worth buying into this offseason despite his rising cost.