Bucs plan to have Chris Godwin in the slot “pretty much the majority of the time”

The Buccaneers are installing a new offense under offensive coordinator Liam Coen and one feature will be a throwback to pre-2023 days in Tampa.

Wide receiver Chris Godwin played just under a third of his offensive snaps out of the slot during the 2023 season, which was a big shift from the previous three years. Godwin played more than half his snaps out of the slot in those years with a peak of 60 percent during the 2022 campaign and wide receivers coach Bryan McClendon said that the plan for the coming season is for Godwin to move back into his old stomping grounds.

“Right now, Chris is going to be moved back to the slot, pretty much the majority of the time,” McClendon said, via the team’s website. “That does not mean that you cannot utilize him in other ways, but just positionally if we went out there today, he would probably be the starting slot. . . . He is a guy that does not mind getting physical. When you have that guy, he gives you an extra gap in the run game and then when you have that guy in the pass game, he has to be good around making contested catches.”

Godwin remained productive last year with 83 catches for 1,024 yards, but it would seem the new Bucs staff thinks the offense as a whole will benefit from a return to the previous way of doing things in Tampa.