The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have elected to use the franchise tag on wide receiver Chris Godwin for the second straight year, ESPN's Adam Schefter reports.
Schefter reported the move about an hour before the franchise tag deadline
Bucs and WR Chris Godwin did not reach a long-term deal today and he now will be tagged, officially, per source.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) March 8, 2022
A franchise tag is a one-year contract that pays out an average of the top five tag amounts at the player's position from the previous five years (applied to the current cap), or 120% of the player's previous year's salary, whichever is greater.
With the franchise tag, Godwin will be due about $19 million in the upcoming season. Last year Godwin had 98 catches for 1,103 yards and five touchdowns despite missing three games. He's also coming off a season-ending ACL injury.
Tagging Godwin though puts another Buccaneer's future in jeopardy. There was talk about potentially working out a longer deal with Godwin and using the franchise tag on CB Carlton Davis, who is entering his 5th season. But with the Bucs tagging Godwin, Davis becomes an unrestricted free agent.
Davis played in and started 10 regular season games in 2021 and led the team with 11 passes defensed.
Now the Bucs will see if there's any way they can come to an agreement with Davis among other free agents on the team, including Rob Gronkowski, Alex Cappa, Ndamukong Suh, Jordan Whitehead and Leonard Fournette. But with 23 potential unrestricted free agents this offseason, it's impossible to keep them all.
