TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — Buccaneers’ wide receiver Chris Godwin is clearing the air after his wife seemingly made an Instagram post directed at head coach Todd Bowles regarding Godwin’s limited targets against the Panthers.
Sunday was the first time in over 60 games that he did not have a catch. The last time that happened was in 2017.
Which raises the question, why?
Simple answer: Bucs’ offensive coordinator Dave Canales says he needs to figure out how to do a better job of getting him the ball.
“Just the play of offense in general, for the quarterback, by no means am I going to go into this game and say, ‘Baker, you have to force this ball into Chris.’ I want Baker to see the shell,” said Canales.
“He’s still getting targets and still in the 50s in receptions. He’s a big part of what we do,” he added.
“I think we had a really, really good talk. It was very productive, and I think at the end of the day, we both see eye to eye, and I think at the end of the day, it’s going to be a lot better for the team moving forward. I feel comfortable with it now; it’s just a matter of putting the work in and going out and executing on it,” said Godwin.
Chris’ wife, Mariah Godwin, even took to Instagram to express her confusion and frustration with how her husband has been utilized in the offense lately.
“I’m not sure why we are just blatantly lying here,” Mariah Godwin wrote. “Regardless of how banged up Chris is, he continues to work his ass off. hasn’t missed a game. continues to run great routes & get open. I don’t know why things are the way they are, this isn’t my team to coach. but this lying on Chris & implying negativity on his work ethic is infuriating. let’s not act like he had to be subbed out so much more than usual when in fact he’s been playing just the same.”
“I know that she’s always going to support me and always going to have my back, so naturally, there’s going to be some frustration, like how you would expect it, and I think that her intent on the whole thing was it wasn’t a play count thing, that wasn’t the reason why,” said Godwin.
On Thursday, Mariah shared another Instagram post, further clearing the air.
“Lots of people drawing conclusions of things that I didn’t say from what I posted yesterday, which is to be expected from the internet,” she wrote. “to be clear: my point was that I don’t like seeing Chris work so hard, even through injuries, & it be said that he was essentially only working part time. That just wasn’t true so it was frustrating to see. & because of how he prides himself on working hard no matter what & not using injuries as an excuse, that felt like implying negativity on his work ethic. But I am hopeful & excited for the next game as I always am, & it’s always Go Bucs 🙂 That doesn’t change!”
Godwin says there’s no bad blood from this situation and that everyone is moving forward.
