Chris Godwin has settled into a role that goes beyond making catches and moving chains. On a recent appearance on the podcast "Green Light with Chris Long," the Tampa Bay Buccaneers wideout talked about what it means to be the veteran voice in a young receiver room, and he made it clear he sees that responsibility as part of the job.
Godwin said the biggest challenge for young receivers is figuring out how to practice and handle the speed of the game when everything starts coming at them fast.
"I think the biggest thing is really just learning how to practice. So many of them, they have so much talent and a lot of untapped potential, but then you get out there and things start to move fast and you start making some mistakes. You kind of get in your own head.
"It's like, I try to like help them with a lot of that stuff because I made those mistakes... and the information that other people gave me that like Mike [Evans] and [Desean Jackson] and [Adam Humphries] and all these guys have given to me, I'm trying to pass it down to them so that they can learn it quicker so they don't have to go through the same things I did."
That message fits a Buccaneers receiver group that has plenty of upside. Emeka Egbuka, last year’s first-round pick, is heading into Year 2 looking to make a jump and establish himself as a reliable starter.
Jalen McMillan is also in the mix after his 2025 season was almost completely lost to a neck injury suffered in the 2025 preseason. He’s trying to get back to form and prove he can be a starting-caliber receiver, too.
Then there’s rookie Ted Hurst III, who will be asked to help fill the huge hole left by Hall of Fame receiver Mike Evans as both a red-zone option and a deep threat. Tez Johnson also turned in a strong rookie year for a seventh-round pick last season and will keep working to carve out a bigger role in the back half of the depth chart.
For now, that puts Godwin in the center of it all as the veteran guiding the room, and he sounds more than willing to keep passing along what he’s learned.
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