***Official Free Agency Thread***

[CannonFire]

I think you need to go back to the onset of my argument. It was stated that Godwin has a $27M cap hit... blah blah blah. I said that cap hit and AAV are 2 different things. I said that when Godwin signed his deal, it WAS (past tense... see, because it happened in the past), a deal that paid him like a #1 WR. So, things have changed. Since Godwin has torn his ACL, things have changed... that's why I say that at this point in time Smith may be better but that doesn't mean that DeVonta Smith is a #1WR. Again, Godwin signed his deal 4 years ago. When Smith starts getting his money from this contract, I'm willing to bet he's outside the top 20, where as Godwin was top 7.

It is not just about the ACL injury. Canales didn't use Godwin in the slot much and he was not getting screens the way that he used to. He went from over 60% of the time playing in the slot to low 30s in Canales offense. The Bucs also threw the ball a lot more with Winston and Brady. Brady had 35 games with the Bucs where he threw 40 or more passes. He went 19-16 in those games. Baker has only won 1 game in his entire career where he has thrown more than 40 passes. 0-4 with the Bucs last year. Even with Brady it is not a recipe for winning. Hopefully Coen will have better designed plays for Godwin that will lead to a higher success rate.

Smith had 104 targets,16 starts and 916 snaps his rookie season compared to 55, 2 starts and 446 snaps for Godwin. The gap closed somewhat in their sophomore seasons. 136 targets, 17 starts and 1,083 snaps for Smith and 95 targets, 5 starts and 717 snaps for Godwin. Godwin's third season he finished 3rd in receiving yards, 2nd in yards per game and 4th in TD. His 3rd season was much better than Smith's. Smith has been consistent his entire career however and Godwin was not. Smith has every capability to have a 1500 yard 10 TD season and def deserved to be paid.

I'm not even debating any of that with respect to Godwin. My point was that when Godwin signed his deal, he was signed to a deal that was akin to someone who was thought of as a WR1 because at the time he was thought of as a player who was a WR1. Now, what happened ever since is moot. Whether he may or may not have earned that contract because of his physical shortcomings, his QB's shortcomings, or coaches shortcomings, is all irrelevant. Ideally, you pay players what their worth, regardless of whether that worth is being used. If he's not, then you need to make changes to your staff, your QB, or trade that player. Like you, with the coaching change, I hope they use Godwin more productively. I also hope that Mayfield doesn't continue to be an average to below average QB and be able to not just key in on Evans for 4 seconds and find other players downfield. I think the former can happen, sadly, I'm more than confident that the latter can't. Fingers crossed.

Godwin, when he was drafted was thought of as raw and a bit of a project because Penn State isn't a passing school known for developing WR's, it's why he was drafted in the 3rd round. DeVonta Smith went to Alabama and was considered a more polished player, plus he was drafted in the 1st round (not 3rd like Godwin), and hence his playing time instantaneous. I'm not saying that Smith can't or won't ever be seen as a WR1 (coming out of college, I thought the kid was going to be a stud). What I'm saying is that the people here in the Philly market don't think he's a WR1 and the contract that he signed tells me that the Eagles AND DeVonta Smith, don't think he's a WR1. He's not going to get "WR1 money", until 2026... which by then, will probably be "WR2 money". Godwin's deal, at the time he signed it, paid him WR1 money at the time.