Raiders must be aggressive if Chris Godwin is done with Bucs

The Raiders will need to cough up serious coin for Godwin.

Godwin played under the franchise tag this past season in Tampa Bay. Interestingly enough, in a year where Godwin suffered a season-ending injury, he was playing under the cloud of a one-year deal. Here’s what is key moving forward with Godwin this offseason, more specifically in what any financials surrounding the receiver would entail. The Bucs could end up tagging him again.

As SI Fan Nation writer Evan Winter points out, “while there is a chance the Bucs could tag him again, a second tag would include an additional 120% mark-up next year. Right now, Godwin is making $15.983 million. Another tag means he’d make slightly north of $19 million in 2022, alone.”

That would be quite the markup for the services of a receiver coming off a major injury. Obviously, the Raiders would be in the dubious position of having to invest in a player with questionable health. However, the fact that Tampa Bay will have several key players as free agents this offseason could lead to Godwin being signed elsewhere.

The question will then become, how much are the Raiders willing to pay a year for a premium wide receiver? Whether it’s Godwin or anyone else, that will be the biggest hurdle. The team could opt to draft a wide receiver in the first round, but that too would have obvious setbacks. Coughing up serious money for Godwin might be the best road traveled.