Bucs are taking Mike Evans' advice when it comes to getting Chris Godwin back to the Pro Bowl and it's working

It's wild to think the Tampa Bay Buccaneers enter the fifth training camp practice, already, on Monday. And while it's still early, we've seen some pre-camp storylines begin to develop, good or bad.

One such storyline is how to get Chris Godwin back on track, mostly when it comes to scoring touchdowns. Especially since he's in the final year of the three-year, $60 million deal he signed back in 2022.

Bucs star wideout Mike Evans got things rolling on the first day of training camp when he said Godwin looks like he's not just in midseason form, but the 2019 form that earned him a Pro Bowl nod and set career-highs in receiving yards and receiving touchdowns.

Evans also offered up a solution, or solutions if you want to separate the different types of plays he suggested, on how to get Godwin back into the end zone.

"Give him some more red zone opportunities. Kind of looking back at the film in 2019, we gave him a lot of opportunities for fades, seam balls, screens - he can do all those routes, we just got to put them on him more."

On Sunday, per Pewter Report's Scott Reynolds, the Bucs fed Godwin in the red area and the result was two touchdowns:

The Bucs worked on red zone offense in the middle of Sunday’s practice and in the first two reps in 11-on-11 veteran wide receiver Chris Godwin absolutely stole the show.

... Godwin caught back-to-back touchdown passes from Baker Mayfield, going across the middle of the end zone and beating cornerback Zyon McCollum in coverage on the first one, and then hauling in a perfect back shoulder fade in the right back corner of the end zone against All-Pro safety Antoine Winfield Jr. on the next one. - Scott Reynolds, Pewter Report

In all seriousness, the Bucs should be a very good red area in team in 2024. Coen's offense provides layers in the passing game that take advantage of every level of the field from shallow, to intermediate, to deep. Obviously, you can't go too deep in the red zone, but Coen's offense isn't bothered by that because he, like Sean McVay, does a very good job of incorporating horizontal rushing and passing attacks.

Coen's red zone history is promising for the Bucs offense

Coen was the offensive coordinator for the Kentucky Wildcats in 2021 and 2023. In those two years, the Cats converted red zone trips into touchdowns at the eighth- and 23rd-best rates, respectively, in the nation. Those rankings led the SEC in 2021 and was fourth-best, last year.

In 2022, when Coen was the OC for the Los Angeles Rams, he was able to get his offense into the end zone on 55.6% of red area trips. That was good for 14th and he was able to stay above the average line with Matthew Stafford and Cooper Kupp missing nine games, each.

If the Bucs can get improved play from the offensive line and Baker Mayfield continues to grow into this role, then the team should have very few problems scoring points once it gets inside the 20. Especially with Chase McLaughlin on the roster.