Latest Chris Godwin report brings good news for Buccaneers

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have done a great job retaining their own free agents in recent years. Just last season alone, the Bucs managed to re-sign franchise cornerstones Tristan Wirfs, Antoine Winfield Jr., Mike Evans, Lavonte David and Baker Mayfield

Although Bucs' GM Jason Licht's to-do list isn't quite as extensive as it was at this time last year (at least in terms of re-signing his own guys) he's still got his work cut out for him. On Friday, franchise icon Lavonte David agreed to a new contract to return for his 14th season in Tampa Bay.

That agreement was music to the ears of Bucs fans everywhere, but they can't start planning a boat parade quite yet. Why? Because Chris Godwin, who is still recovering from an ankle dislocation suffered last season, is widely considered to be the best free agent wide receiver on the open market.

As such, Godwin is expected to fetch plenty of interest from teams with plenty of money and cap space.

On Friday, Mike Giardi of the Boston Sports Journal, reported that the New England Patriots would be one of those teams, while providing some specific financial projections on Godwin's market.

Considering most people expected Godwin's annual value to come in somewhere at or under the $20 million mark, this report stirred up quite a bit of concern among the Bucaneers' fanbase, who all of a sudden were questioning whether or not their GM would be able to continue his impressive streak of retaining the team's best players in free agency.

However, a lot of those concerns were put to rest by the same man who stirred them up to begin with, when Giardi updated his report just a day later.

Although a few million dollars may not seem like a huge difference on the surface, assuming this report is accurate, it could be the difference between the Bucs bringing back Chris Godwin or not. As successful as Jason Licht, Mike Greenberg and their staff have been when it comes to retaining their best players, they're also disciplined when it comes to sticking to their own valuations.

There's no question that Chris Godwin is a player that everyone in the Tampa Bay Buccaneers organization wants to see back in pewter and red. But with Godwin still working his way back from his second significant leg injury, don't expect the team to stretch themselves thin in order to do it.

If these more recent projections are an accurate reflection of Godwin's actual market, it bodes well for him and the Buccaneers coming to an agreement in the near future.