TAMPA, FL. – The Bucs officially announced a new 3-year contract for WR Chris Godwin totaling $60 million dollars.
Godwin says he and his wife love Tampa, he likes the organization, but make no mistake about it, Tom Brady coming back just sealed the deal for him.
“Everybody knows the player that Tom is,” Godwin said. “It’s like the Brady effect. Guys want to come and play with him. They want to come here and have the opportunity to win championships. Honestly, we have great guys here already. We have great players here on offense and defense,great leaders. Then you add that piece (Tom) back in the mix and it’s like now, who else wants to come be a part of it? I was elated.”
The Brady effect had a bearing on center Ryan Jensen re-signing although he said he was leaning toward returning even if Brady stayed retired. Bucs also re-signed cornerback Carlton Davis, guard Aaron Stinnie, wide receiver Breshard Perriman.
The Bucs traded with New England for guard Shaq Mason who Licht told me he conferred with Brady about Mason when he was in talks with Mason’s agent. The Bucs added wide receiver Russell Gage from Atlanta and Gage admitted he thought it was a prank call when Brady called him to welcome him to the team.
The Bucs also picked up cornerback/safetyLogan Ryan from the Patriots with Licht saying there was no need to ask Brady about Ryan since they had done their homework on Ryan and had an interest in him a couple of years ago.
Licht also squashed reports about there being friction between Brady and head coach Bruce Arians.
“You can’t believe everything you hear and see,” Licht said. “There’s always going to be friction with people on the staff and players and a coach. It’s just normal. Brady has loved his time here. He told me that several times.”
So now the Bucs focus on the NFL draft. Signing Godwin to a long-term deal was what management and ownership had wanted before his ACL surgery on his knee. But with all these signings, Godwin put it best. Having Brady back, just puts the Bucs in contention once again.
“It changes everything,” Godwin said.
The Bucs went from being a long-shot to win the Super Bowl when Brady announced his retirement, to now being tied with the Green Bay Packers for the second-best odds to win it all. The Bills by the way are favored to take home the Lombardi Trophy.
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