Buccaneers wide receiver Chris Godwin said after re-signing that he came close to leaving in free agency but decided that Tampa is home for him. Tampa Bay General Manager Jason Licht says Godwin ultimately decided to give the Bucs a hometown discount.
Licht said on WDAE that many teams wanted to sign Godwin and one team made it clear to him that it would beat whatever the Bucs’ best offer was. Licht said Godwin took less from the Bucs in an effort to help them fit other players under the salary cap.
“There were several teams that inquired but there was one that kept writing him blank checks,” Licht said. “We got to a point of what we could do in order to keep everything together and add some pieces here, and he took it.”
Licht did not name that team, but the Patriots are widely believed to have made Godwin a very lucrative offer. Licht said Godwin showed by taking less to help the team keep its roster intact showed what kind of person he is.
“A man of character,” Licht said. “We’re so fortunate to have him.”
Godwin has played his entire career in Tampa Bay since they drafted him in 2017, and now he’s locked in for three more years.
Less than 15 minutes into free agency (our story posted at 12:14 p.m. ET), the Buccaneers landed edge rusher Haason Reddick on a one-year, $14 million deal. G.M. Jason Licht explained this week on WDAE radio that the Bucs believe 2024 was an aberration for Reddick, and that he can get back to being an elite player.
“He’s such a freak, freak athlete and he really knows how to get after the quarterback,” Licht said, via JoeBucsFan.com.
“And, you know, [50] sacks in four years — just one year removed from that string that he had where he was an elite guy — and during the [2024] season, it was just kind of a bizarre year for him as he explained with the Jets. But when we knew that he was going to be a free agent, and we had talked several times internally that if he hits free agency or when he does, that this guy might be something that’s worth, you know, betting on. Because he’s going to be very hungry to prove to everybody that he is still the same player that he was before last year.”
Licht confirmed that Reddick was Tampa Bay’s first choice at the edge rusher position. And given the extreme speed with which the deal was done, it’s obvious that the usual pre-free agency tampering resulted in no team making him a significant, multi-year offer.
One could be coming in Tampa.
“He’s very, very determined to prove to everybody that last year was a fluke, that he’s still the same player,” Licht said. “He’s a great guy. He’s going to be a great fit. He can already sense what the locker room is like. And he’s just one of those guys that you like to be direct with. . . . He likes to hear the truth. And the truth was, ‘Hey, you’re going to love your team, you’re going to love your teammates, and we have a history here of rewarding people after they come in on these one-year, prove-it deals. And there’s a chance that we can do that here with you.’”
Reddick, 30, was a first-round pick of the Cardinals in 2017. After four years in Arizona, he spent one season with the Panthers, two with the Eagles, and one (sort of) with the Jets.
The Giants are done waiting on Aaron Rodgers.
With Rodgers visiting Pittsburgh on Friday, the Giants have signed veteran quarterback Jameis Winston. Winston has confirmed the NFL Media report.
He joined Tommy DeVito as the only two quarterbacks on the Giants’ roster. They’ll surely add more, possibly through the draft.
Winston recently visited the Giants, along with veterans Russell Wilson and Joe Flacco.
The first pick in the 2015 draft, Winston spent five years with the Buccaneers, four with the Saints, and one with the Browns. He has 105 regular-season appearances with 87 starts. His record as a starter is 36-51.
Winston has thrown 154 touchdown passes, with 111 interceptions.
He has become an engaging and colorful personality. He might be the kick in the ass the Giants need.
The move most likely removed the Giants from the running for Aaron Rodgers, limiting his option to the Steelers, maybe the Vikings, and possibly retirement.
The Cardinals announced a pair of signings on Friday.
One was the previously reported agreement they reached with former Bears cornerback Jaylon Jones and the other was a deal with offensive lineman Royce Newman. Both players signed one-year deals in Arizona.
Newman spent three seasons with the Packers before joining the Buccaneers for the 2024 campaign. Newman only made one regular season appearance for Tampa, however.
Newman was a 2021 fourth-round pick and he started 16 games at right guard during his rookie season. He played in every game for Green Bay over the next two seasons, but only started eight more times.
In 2017, when the NFL was still trying to reconcile short-week football with player health and safety, the league reduced regular-season overtime to 10 minutes. Eight years later, a proposal from the Eagles would return the overtime duration to 15 minutes.
Although it’s not an official proposal from the Competition Committee, it’s on the docket for a vote at the upcoming annual meeting. The Eagles have suggested both a 15-minute extra session and the fairly new postseason overtime approach, which guarantees a possession for each team.
It remains to be seen whether the proposal gets any traction. Most coaches would prefer the overtime rules to be the same for the regular season and the playoffs. (Of course, the rules will never be identical, given the possibility of regular-season ties.)
Guaranteeing a possession for both teams makes a 10-minute overtime impractical. One team could consume most of the time with a methodical touchdown drive, leaving the other team without a fair chance to match the score.
The fact that any mention of pushing regular-season overtime from 10 minutes back to 15 wasn’t immediately dismissed shows how much things have changed regarding the effort to justify the Sunday-Thursday turnaround. In 2017, the league was very sensitive to any and all criticism of short-week football. Indeed, the change from 15 minutes to 10 happened because the Buccaneers played nearly a full 15 minutes of overtime on a Sunday against the Raiders before playing on a Thursday night against the Falcons.
Now, it’s likely that most won’t even mention the fact that the overtime proposal entails turning the clock back to the possibility of a team playing up to 75 minutes on a Sunday and up to 75 minutes on a Thursday. That’s two and a half games, with only three days off in between.
Bottom line? The ship has sailed regarding any and all pushback to short-week football. Once the NFL tripped over the somewhat disingenuous and incomplete notion that the injury rate for games played on the Thursday after a Sunday is no different from the injury rate for games played on the Sunday after a Sunday, the debate ended.
The Thursday night cash cow was given permanent status. The pig kept getting fatter. And the hog continues to stave off slaughter.
Byron Leftwich was a successful offensive coordinator for four seasons in Tampa, which provided him with opportunities to interview for multiple head coaching jobs. In 2022, he appeared the favorite for the job to replace Urban Meyer in Jacksonville before the Jaguars hired Doug Pederson.
Leftwich hadn’t been heard from since, until interviewing with the Patriots for their head coaching job this hiring cycle.
Leftwich, 45, now is back coaching.
He is joining Deion Sanders’ staff at the University of Colorado, Jordan Schultz of Fox Sports reports. Leftwich’s formal title is unknown, but he will work with the offensive staff under coordinator Pat Shurmur.
Leftwich was the Cardinals’ offensive coordinator in 2018 before going to Tampa. The Bucs ranked first second, first and second in passing yards and third, seventh, second and 15th in total yards during Leftwich’s four years as offensive coordinator with Jameis Winston and Tom Brady at quarterback.
He received head coaching interviews with the Bears, Jaguars and Saints after the 2021 season.
Leftwich has not coached since the Bucs fired him following the 2022 season.
Cornerback Bryce Hall is re-signing with the Buccaneers on a one-year deal, Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times reports.
Hall, 27, played 17 defensive snaps and three on special teams before dislocating the ankle and fracturing the fibula in his right leg in the season opener against Washington.
He is expected again to be the No. 3 cornerback for the Bucs.
Hall spent his first four seasons with the Jets after they made him a fifth-round pick in 2020. He signed a one-year, $1.125 million deal with the Bucs a year ago.
In his career, Hall has played 40 games with 26 starts. He has totaled 122 tackles, half a sack, two interceptions and 21 passes defensed.
Linebacker Lavonte David’s long run with the Buccaneers will continue in 2025.
David signed a one-year deal with the team for the third straight year to set up a 14th season with the team that drafted him in the second round in 2012. It’s the fifth time that David and the Bucs have renewed their commitment to one another since he signed his rookie deal and David said on Monday that it is “incredible” to play for a team that stands by its players that way.
The Bucs also re-signed wide receiver Chris Godwin this month and they’ve had wideout Mike Evans on the roster for more than a decade, which is something that David believes helps get the most out of younger players as well.
“For everybody to just get on board and get on the same page and make things happen ASAP, that’s really underrated,” David said, via a transcript from the team. “I don’t think it’s talked about enough. That just goes to show how much they believe in the guys they bring in. I think is a testament from the ownership all the way down. They want their guys, they believe in their guys, and they’re going to stick with us. I think for the young guys to see that, that gives them even more motivation.”
The Bucs did not make the playoffs in David’s first eight seasons, but he picked up a Super Bowl ring in 2020 and the Bucs have won four straight division titles. That kind of success makes it easy for all involved to stick together as long as possible.
Linebacker Lavonte David has played for just one team throughout his entire career and that won’t change as he enters 2025.
David, 35, told reporters in his Monday press conference that he’s healthy after getting rolled up on in the postseason loss to Washington in January. And now that he’s returning for Year 14, David is approaching Derrick Brooks’ franchise record for tackles.
“I mean, all of the stats come in and out — there are so many stats out there — but I did kind of know about that one,” David said, noting it wasn’t a “big focus” for his desire to return. “I’m not competing with Derrick Brooks — Derrick Brooks is still lightyears ahead of where I want to be. To go back to what you said, it would be an incredible accomplishment, to be the leader for a franchise in tackles — that’s something that every kid dreams of, especially a kid in my position. I never thought I would be signing a contract to play my 14th season with the same organization. It’s incredible, man. It’s very humbling, it’s very amazing. It would be great to do that, but at the same time, I’m just blessed to be able to play this game.
“‘D.B’ is Mr. Franchise. Everybody wants to model what they do after Derrick Brooks, on the field and off the field. To be mentioned in the same breath is always incredible for me.”
One of the reasons David is in a position to break the record is that Tampa Bay has continued to re-sign him. It’s a trend for the Bucs, who have retained players like David, Mike Evans, and Chris Godwin throughout their careers.
“[The Buccaneers] have been loyal to their guys — a lot of organizations aren’t like that,” David said. “For those guys to be transparent with us and have that back-and-forth communication about how important they feel we are to them and how much we want to be back and play for this city, I think that’s incredible. For everybody to just get on board and get on the same page and make things happen ASAP, that’s really underrated. I don’t think it’s talked about enough.
“That just goes to show how much they believe in the guys they bring in. I think is a testament from the ownership all the way down.”
A second-round pick in 2012, David started all 17 games for Tampa Bay last season, totaling 122 tackles, nine tackles for loss, 5.5 sacks, three forced fumbles, and an interception.
The Steelers have brought back another one of their own receivers.
Last week, they re-signed Ben Skowronek. Today, they announced that Scotty Miller has returned, on a one-year deal.
A sixth-round pick of the Buccaneers in 2019, Miller spent four year in Tampa, one in Atlanta, and one in Pittsburgh.
In 13 games with one start in 2024, he caught five passes for 69 yards.
His best season came in 2020 with the Bucs, with 33 catches for 501 yards and three touchdowns. Tampa Bay won the Super Bowl that year.
Last week, the Steelers traded for D.K. Metcalf, and Van Jefferson left via free agency. The other top names on the depth chart include George Pickens and Calvin Austin III.
In 2024, the Steelers drafted former Michigan receiver Roman Wilson in the third round; he appeared in only one game last season, with five offensive snaps and no statistics.
