The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are getting some of the best football of his career out of veteran wide receiver Chris Godwin to start the 2024 NFL season.
Even with that, it doesn’t mean Godwin’s time in Tampa Bay will extend beyond this year, as he’s in the final season of a 3-year, $60 million contract extension he signed in March 2022 — meaning the Buccaneers have 2 wide receivers making at least $20 million this season along with NFL All-Pro Mike Evans.
Those are some of the reasons why CBS Sports’ Josh Edwards has the Buccaneers taking electric Missouri wide receiver Luther Burden III in his latest 2025 NFL mock draft with the No. 14 overall pick.
“Chris Godwin has been Tampa Bay’s most effective pass catcher this season so the Bucs may not be comfortable allowing him to walk after the season,” Edwards wrote. “The reality is that he is a free agent and the team could add a dynamic player at a lesser cost.”
Burden has been one of college football’s most dynamic wide receivers the last 2 seasons and earned All-SEC and Associated Press All-American honors in 2023 with 86 receptions for 1,212 receiving yards and 9 touchdowns in 13 games.
Oregon State offensive tackle Taliese Fuaga was the No. 14 overall pick by the New Orleans Saints in the 2024 NFL draft and signed a 4-year, $17.3 million rookie contract.
Burden’s Playmaking Skills Seem Ready for NFL
Burden would have likely been a first-round pick in the 2024 draft were it not for the NFL rules that require players to be 3 years out of high school before becoming draft eligible.
Burden was the No. 1 offensive player in the Class of 2022 coming out of powerhouse East St. Louis. (Ill.) High School but stayed close to home for college, picking Mizzou out of a final 3 that included Georgia and Alabama.
Through Missouri’s 4-0 start to the 2024 season, Burden had 19 receptions for 257 yards and 4 touchdowns, including 6 receptions for 117 yards and 1 touchdown in a Week 3 win over Boston College.
Godwin Subject of Trade Rumors in Offseason
While Godwin leads Tampa Bay with 21 receptions for 253 receiving yards and 3 touchdowns through the first 3 games of the 2024 season, he spent most of the offseason as the subject of trade rumors.
ESPN’s Aaron Schatz singled out the Buccaneers securing an extension for Godwin as the most important move the team could have made before training camp — an extension that never materialized and gets spendier for Tampa Bay with every big game for Godwin.
“Godwin’s contract voids after the 2024 season, but let’s not overthink this,” Schatz wrote. “He’s absolutely an above-average NFL starting wide receiver and someone Tampa Bay wants to keep around. An extension might also help spread out the cap hit for Godwin over the three void years where the Bucs would be carrying dead money for him under the current contract.”
Godwin missed four games due to injuries in 2020 and had 65 receptions for 840 yards and 7 touchdowns in 12 games but returned for the Buccaneers’ run to a Super Bowl title and had 16 receptions for 232 yards and 1 touchdown in four postseason games.
Godwin entered 2024 on a streak of three consecutive seasons of at least 1,000 receiving yards and had a career-high 104 receptions in 2022.
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