Chris Godwin Jr. didn’t hold back when talking about Jalon Daniels.
After the Tampa Bay Buccaneers picked up their first win of the season in Week 5 on Thursday Night Football against the Dallas Cowboys inside “Jerry’s World,” the veteran wideout made it clear the undrafted rookie quarterback has already won over the locker room. Daniels, making just his second NFL start while filling in for the injured Baker Mayfield, helped steady Tampa and keep the season from drifting off course.
That victory also changed the mood around the Bucs’ start. At 1-4, Tampa Bay is only 1.5 games behind the 2-2 Carolina Panthers, who were on bye in Week 5, in the NFC South race. With three winnable games coming up, including two against division opponents, the Bucs could be sitting atop the South by the end of October after looking like their season might be slipping away at the end of September.
A lot of that credit goes to Daniels, who has looked far more like a seasoned pro than an undrafted rookie with only two starts under his belt. He has brought poise, confidence, and a kind of energy that clearly stands out.
Godwin, who has piled up over 7800 career receiving yards, said on the Speakeasy show that Daniels has been especially impressive to him. The 30-year-old even said players like Daniels help keep him feeling young.
“He has like this aura about him. He comes in very charismatic and got this childlike enthusiasm that he plays the game with…Guys like that, that keep you young, man, and it’s like, when he’s out there, he’s the star of his own movie.”
That kind of praise from a veteran as established as Godwin says plenty about the impression Daniels has made in a short time.
The Bucs still have work to do, no question. But for now, they’ve got a quarterback who hasn’t flinched under pressure and has already given them a reason to believe there’s plenty left in this season.
In Other News...
Buccaneers Just Sent A Loud Message About Their National Pull
The Buccaneers Thursday night matchup with the Cowboys did more than give Tampa Bay a national showcase. It helped underline how far the team has come in terms of national draw, with the game landing in a premium slot on Prime Video and feeding into a broader surge for the streaming package around Thursday Night Football.
Prime Videos early TNF numbers have been strong across the board, and the platform has seen its pregame and postgame coverage pick up, too. For the Buccaneers, that matters because games like this do not just shape the immediate conversation around the team, they also keep putting Tampa Bay in front of a bigger audience at a time when the leagues media landscape is shifting fast. [Read more 🡒]
Buccaneers Finally Have Hope But One Concern Still Looms
A Week 5 upset of the Dallas Cowboys gave Tampa Bay its first win of the season and, at least for the moment, some breathing room around a slow start. The result also nudged the Buccaneers up in ESPNs NFL power rankings, a small but welcome sign that the season is not already slipping away.
The bigger question is still on the defensive side, where the Bucs have looked uneven from drive to drive. There have been some standout individual efforts, but the pass rush and linebacker play remain inconsistent enough to keep the unit from settling in, and that leaves one familiar concern hanging over a team trying to build on its first breakthrough. [Read more 🡒]
Buccaneers Still Have One Big Quarterback Decision Before Steelers
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Jalon Daniels has handled the offense over the last two games, with the Buccaneers going 1-1 in that stretch, and he is anticipated to start against Pittsburgh unless Mayfield gets cleared sooner than expected. It leaves Tampa Bay in a holding pattern for now, with the staff balancing short-term stability against the possibility of getting its usual starter back in time to change the outlook before kickoff. [Read more 🡒]