2 Bucs Featured Among Most Underrated Heading Into 2025

The Buccaneers look poised to win their fifth consecutive division title in 2025. While most people expect Baker Mayfield to take another leap forward, his connection with Chris Godwin will be vital. On the other side of the ball, YaYa Diaby appears poised to take a leap forward of his own. With both of them healthy heading into this season, Godwin and Diaby are heading into 2025 as the most underrated players at their respective positions, according to Jared Dubin of CBS Sports.

Can Chris Godwin Get Back on Track After Last Year’s Brutal Ankle Injury?

Chris Godwin’s 2024 season was cut short by a brutal ankle injury toward the end of their Week 7 loss to Baltimore. But the veteran wide receiver was on pace for the best season of his 8-year career. At the time, he led the league with 50 receptions and had racked up 576 yards and 5 touchdowns. As Dubin points out, if we project those statistics out to a 17-game pace, Godwin would have been on pace for 121 catches, 1,399 yards and 12 touchdowns. That would’ve been a top-3 receiving season last year. However, he still wouldn’t have been able to prevent Ja’Marr Chase from winning the triple crown.

“He remains one of the most effective slot receivers in the NFL, but he also provides much more than what you imagine a typical slot man does,” writes Jared Dubin.

With Baker Mayfield discussing his desire to create more explosive plays in 2025, Chris Godwin should play a vital role. Godwin isn’t a regular deep ball threat, “but when healthy, he can add to them by attracting coverage,” writes Kevin Patra, Senior News Writer for NFL.com. Godwin is an elite intermediate target, as over 43% of his career receiving yards have come after the catch. Part of why Godwin is among the most underrated receivers is that his highlight catches aren’t usually on deep balls. But, Godwin is still one of the most agile and shifty receivers in the league at his size.

Back in February, Buccaneers Senior Writer/Editor Scott Smith wrote about Godwin for the first of a 10-part series on potential Bucs free agents in 2025. In his story, Smith points out that Godwin was “thriving in the ‘Cooper Kupp‘ role.” He noted that incoming offensive coordinator Liam Coen had established himself with Sean McVay’s Rams. Coen had viewed Godwin as an ideal target to fill that role.

“He was easily the biggest yards-after-catch threat in an offense that was relying on YAC quite a bit,” writes Smith. “After being used more as an outside receiver by 2023 Offensive Coordinator Dave Canales, Godwin went back to taking more than half of his snaps out of the slot under Coen. At the time of his injury, he had an NFL-high 365 yards of YAC, which comprised 63.4% of his overall yardage.”

In addition to re-establishing Godwin as a YAC threat, Coen emphasized the importance of utilizing Godwin in the red zone. Smith points out that Godwin’s 5 red zone touchdowns “were as many as he had in 32 games during the 2022-23 seasons combined.”

YaYa Diaby’s Sophomore Slump Left Him as ‘Most Underrated’ Edge Rusher

Despite a drop in production, at least in terms of sacks, YaYa Diaby put together quite an impressive sophomore season. Diaby ranked in the top 10 in tackles, hurries, hits and total pressures among all edge defenders, according to PFF. He also “ranked among the top 15 edge defenders in both pass-rush grade (79.4) and run-defense grade (74.8),” according to PFF‘s Ryan Smith. Smith ranked Diaby as the No. 24 edge defender heading into the 2025 season. Diaby should be able to turn a few more of his pressures into sacks with the addition of Haason Reddick. If he can approach the 7.5 sacks he registered in 2023, Reddick could be among the most underrated edge defenders.

“At first glance, you’d think Diaby took a step backward last year,” writes Jared Dubin of CBS Sports. “But that overlooks the incredible rate at which Diaby generated pressures in 2024. His 65 total sacks, hits and hurries ranked 11th in the NFL, and his 15.3% pressure rate was 18th-best out of 277 players that rushed the passer 100 times or more, according to Tru Media.”

Diaby made a “significant leap” from year 1 to year 2, according to PFF’s Ryan Smith. Smith points out that Diaby’s overall PFF grade jumped from a 60.8 as a rookie to a 78.0 last season. If Diaby can convert more pressures into sacks, his sack total should “take a big leap forward,” writes Smith.

Despite that big jump, Diaby still ranks among the most underrated edge defenders in the league. With the Bucs’ addition of Haason Reddick, Diaby should be able to more aggressively get after the quarterback this season.

“I just want to get off and get to the quarterback,” Diaby told Buccaneers Senior Writer/Editor Scott Smith. Diaby notes that when he dropped into coverage, he cleared space for Calijah Kancey and Vita Vea to record sacks. But in 2025, “it would mean a lot if I could just line up and just get after the quarterback.”