Teams have until Tuesday at 4:00 p.m. ET to apply franchise or transition tags to players whose contracts are about to expire, according to the NFL. One famous name won’t be tagged as the deadline draws near.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers will not be applying the franchise or transition tags to wide receiver Chris Godwin, according to ESPN’s Jenna Laine.
“I’ve reported this previously,” Laine posted on Monday on X, the former Twitter. “But the Bucs will NOT be using it on Chris Godwin as it would be his third time being tagged and it would result in a 144% raise.”
Godwin played the full season on the $15.9 million contract after being previously tagged prior to the 2021 season. The next summer, he was tagged once more before agreeing to a three-year contract worth $60 million, of which $40 million was guaranteed.
The 29-year-old will now be eligible for free agency for the first time in his career after undergoing surgery in October of last year after dislocating his ankle and missing the rest of the season. There is still a chance that he will return to Tampa Bay, though, since he and the organization decided to prolong the contract’s expiration date to March 12 in the hopes of reaching a new agreement.
Godwin will rank among the best wide receivers available if he succeeds.