The healing continues for Bucs wide receiver Chris Godwin

TAMPA — Chris Godwin’s eyes grew wide. Dancing deep inside them was the joyful image of his father running stride for stride along the sidelines with him. Ever since the Bucs receiver started playing football as a child, it had been that way.

“It’s tough to put into words. A lot of my memories as a young boy playing football when I was 6 were of my dad, running up and down the sideline screaming, ’Half man! Half monster! The Manster!’” Godwin said, smiling as he recalled the scene this week outside the Bucs locker room.

When Godwin caught a pass last Sunday in New Orleans and went 55 yards for a touchdown — the second-longest reception of his career — the only thing heavier than the football he carried may have been his heart.

Entering this week’s games, Godwin led the NFL with 43 receptions for 511 yards (third most) and was tied for the most touchdown catches with five. He even led the league in yards after the catch with 324.

What’s more, he has not dropped a fourth-quarter target since Week 1 of 2021, or 105 straight.

Nearly three years after tearing three major ligaments in his right knee, Godwin is as healthy as he may ever be. He is thriving back in the slot receiver position under offensive coordinator Liam Coen, and his connection with quarterback Baker Mayfield has been grooved.

At 28, Godwin is in the final season of a three-year contract that averages $20 million per year.

So, there is no shortage of motivating factors for his dominating play in the first six games of 2024.

“His football game speaks for itself,” head coach Todd Bowles said. “To have him fully motivated in the offseason — some personal things that I’m sure happened to him that he’s still motivated from — and he’s healthy, he’s competitive. He out there having fun, he’s running, he’s catching, he’s blocking.

“You’ve seen the best of what Chris Godwin has right now.”

His biggest supporter

Here’s just one more reason Godwin’s rededication has resulted in his best football:

Ten days after the Bucs lost to the Detroit Lions in an NFC division-round game in January, Godwin’s father, Rod Christopher Godwin Sr., died of cancer.

“He wasn‘t my coach. He was just a parent supporting me,” Godwin said. “I just always thought growing up that that’s kind of how everybody’s parents were. But then, as I got older, I realized, like, that that wasn’t the case. And it went that way all the way through high school, right?

“When I get into college, and especially at a school like Penn State, it’s so loud. You know what I mean? So, it’s different, because he’s not running on the sidelines. But I feel like he was always like that. And people and everybody on every team that I played for, they knew him, and they knew where he was. It always gave me the motivation to go and do the best I could do.”

Godwin was named after his father, but everyone called him C.J. or Chris. His dad was Rod or Rifle, because he played basketball and “was known as a shooter.”

Godwin’s father owned a commercial laundry business. His business cleaned the linens for a V.A. hospital, and when Godwin was young, he sometimes went to work with his dad.

“Some people with their kids, they will kind of, like, squash, their kids’ dreams, whether intentionally or unintentionally,” Godwin said. “They’d say, ‘You know how slim those odds are?’ or ‘Make sure you have a backup plan.’ It was never that. Just ‘Go for your dream.’ And also, ‘If you don’t want to play football anymore, you don’t have to play it.’

“So, me playing ball was strictly for the love of the game, and I never questioned my dad’s support for me. I never questioned my dad’s love for me. If I wanted to do that, he was going to be my biggest supporter. That was so big for me, and I remember telling him that.”

Godwin recalls having that conversation around this time a year ago:

“ I was telling him, ‘I appreciate you for that. You don’t understand how big that is for kids. You just love life.’ Because he was the same with my little sister. ‘You loved on your kids,’ and that’s just so important, man. Losing him was very, very tough, and I wasn’t sure how it was going to impact me once the season started.”

Feeling healthy again

Of course, the biggest reason for Godwin’s dominant performance this season is his health.

Even though he was injured in December 2021, he still managed to post three consecutive 1,000-yard receiving seasons. But that doesn’t mean he was 100%. Far from it.

There were physical and mental hurdles. His ability to stem routes was affected shortly after the injury. But as his body healed, his performance improved.

“I feel better. That’s the biggest thing, is the work that had to be put in,’’ Godwin said. “I was just talking to (receiver) Rakim (Jarrett) about this, because he’s working his way back (from a knee injury). And I was just explaining to him, like, ‘Man, give yourself some grace.’ And it’s little steps, right? And I had no idea going into it, right? I always heard, it’s little victories. But in my head at the time, it was OK, that’s the process for the first year. But after the first year, I should be good.

“I think one thing that people forget is those first two years (after the injury), I still had 1,000 yards, you know? They see other people do it. But it‘s hard to get. This is the best of the best. The touchdowns were down. But there’s a lot of factors, like, the way people play it. For me, it’s always been about the progression.”

Godwin didn’t skip any steps, attending every offseason workout and organized team activity.

“As I get further away from it, I‘m recovering better,” he said. ”I move a little bit better. We were putting a lot of work since OTAs just trying to almost reprogram how I’m cutting because of some compensation patterns that I developed the first couple years while healing. Fortunately, I’m talented enough and have the awareness to make the plays without being symmetrical, but it’s not, like, ideal.”

One thing Godwin says he no longer worries about is his contract situation.

“It’s an OTA type of thing where you understand it’d be great to have a great year this year,” Godwin said. “But once you’re just in the thick of it, you’re just in a moment.”

There is a quiet moment before each game, after Godwin runs out of the tunnel, where he takes a knee in the north end zone at Raymond James Stadium and says a prayer.

It’s a little bit different now.

“I briefly talk to (my dad),” he said. “I didn’t know what to expect about all of that, but when I’m done I always tear up a little bit, and it always catches me off guard. The connection is there, but it’s also still a bit of disbelief. And it’s crazy, man, but, yeah, obviously he was a big part of my life, and he will continue to be.”

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