Early in the offseason, the Jacksonville Jaguars were linked to Chris Godwin, and understandably so. Wide receiver was seemingly a need at the time, and he had played for Liam Coen during his stop as the offensive coordinator for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
However, Godwin chose to stay put, signing a three-year deal worth $66 million to stay in Tampa. Things ultimately worked out for the Jags, though. Then went on to draft two-way star Travis Hunter and later traded for Jakobi Meyers.
Meanwhile, Godwin has dealt with injuries, and Tampa Bay is on the brink of being knocked out of playing contention. That said, that hasn't stopped an NFL analyst from wishing Jacksonville had inked him in free agency.
The Jaguars were a seemingly a fit for Chris Godwin
Kristopher Knox of Bleacher Report put together a list of players he would've liked to see join other teams in the offseason. He mused on the possibility of Chris Godwin going to the Jaguars, noting that they may still have drafted Travis Hunter but might not have needed to trade for Jakobi Meyers.
"The Jaguars have also taken some big swings at the receiver position with mixed results," Knox wrote. "The aggressive trade to land Travis Hunter with the No. 2 pick in the draft yielded only 298 receiving yards and one touchdown before he was shut down for the season. The Jaguars then traded for Jakobi Meyers at the deadline before signing him to a three-year $60 million extension."
Knox continued, "Had the Jags landed Godwin in free agency, they may have still made the play for Hunter, but probably wouldn't felt the need to deal for Meyers."
Later in his article, Knox argues that Godwin wouldn't be stuck with an underwhelming offense and would instead be playing for a playoff team had he landed in Jacksonville. It's also worth noting that he omitted the Dyami Brown signing, but the main point remains.
The Jaguars made several moves at receiver, and not all of them panned out. Before free agency, the team's brass released Christian Kirk to free up $10 million in cap space, an amount that was used to address the larger scale roster.
With Kirk out of the mix, the Jags needed another receiver who could line up in the slot. They had Parker Washington in place, but also gave a $10 million, prove-it deal to Brown. Later, Jacksonville drafted Hunter and released Gabe Davis.
The early results weren't great, as Hunter had a steep learning curve as a receiver, Brian Thomas Jr. struggled with drops, and Brown cooled down after a strong start to the season. The underwhelming production at receiver led the Jaguars to trade for Meyers at the deadline. Since then, the offense has operated like a well-oiled machine, so that was arguably the move the front office needed to make all along.
The Jaguars are just fine without Chris Godwin
By now, you may want to point out that Chris Godwin never truly hit free agency, but he signed his deal with the Bucs until the second day of the tampering period, so the Jags had time to get in touch with his camp, and there's a chance they did before deciding to pass on him.
Had the Jaguars signed Godwin, he could have replaced Christian Kirk at the slot. However, he would been more expensive. Heck, the deal he got from the Buccaneers was bigger than the one the Jaguars gave to Jakobi Meyers (three years, $60 million).
Moreover, Godwin suffered a fractured fibula last year that has lingered into 2025, limiting him to a combined 14 games the past two seasons. Make no mistake, the former Penn State has had an illustrious career. From 2019 to 2023, he posted four 1,000-yard seasons, and he would still be pretty effective if it weren't for injuries. Heck, the Buccaneers expected him to be fully healthy and wouldn't have been able to predict that injuries would continue to bug him.
The bottom line is that not all the moves the Jaguars made in the offseason panned out, but they made the right call when they chose not to pursue Chris Godwin.