Chris Godwin is coming off the worst full season of his career at an age when that usually signals the end. The injury history behind it is long enough to make anyone wonder if his body is simply done. Mike Evans is gone now, though, and there is a new offensive coordinator in Tampa Bay. Fantasy managers have to decide whether that is enough to bet on a 30-year-old receiver.
Should You Draft Chris Godwin Jr. in Fantasy Football?
We’ll start with Godwin’s ADP, which sits at 99.8 in PFN’s Free Fantasy Mock Draft Simulator, and he checks in at WR44 in our consensus rankings, which are mine and my colleague Kyle Soppe’s. We have him projected for 10.17 fantasy points per game.
Let’s start with that ranking. Soppe heavily carries that low ranking, because I’ve got him way higher than that. I’ve gone all the way up to WR34. That means Soppe’s got him outside the top 50, and I think that’s really hating on a guy that’s been a proven top-end producer when healthy.
I understand the bear case on Godwin. He’s over 30 years old now. He has a really, really lengthy injury history. Of course, last year he was just terrible, with a career-worst 1.42 yards per route run. He averaged 9.2 fantasy points per game, 7.1 yards per target, just an 18.3% target share, a 20% targets-per-route-run rate. You pick the metric, it was not good for Godwin.
But why was it not good? Is it not good because Godwin is now a 30-plus-year-old player who is fully in decline? Or is it not good because he just wasn’t healthy as he was recovering from the various injuries he’s had over the past few seasons? This year, it could be that he takes another step toward the end of his career and it’s just over. Or he’s fully healthy, finally having a full offseason where he’s not recovering from an injury, and he’s able to bounce back.
While he is over 30, he’s not 32 yet. He’s not 33. He’s not at that age where we fully expect players to just fall off a cliff. We’ve seen high-end seasons from good players at age 30 or 31 before. It’s certainly possible.
Mike Evans is gone. Emeka Egbuka is already dealing with an injury. I think Zac Robinson is going to be so much better for this offense than Josh Grizzard was last year. Robinson comes from the Sean McVay coaching tree, and we know those offenses tend to produce pretty good numbers and pretty good fantasy numbers. If he runs the offense the same way, where he’s funneling targets around his top two receivers, Egbuka and Godwin, we could see a lot of targets for Godwin this season and heavy volume.
Even if Godwin is not the same player he was, that still works, especially in a Baker Mayfield offense that doesn’t really have a great defense. They could be throwing a lot. There are a lot of things pointing favorably for Godwin this season if we can look past the fact that he might just be a declining player.
With his ADP where it is, I think it’s worth taking the shot. If we’re wrong about Godwin, odds are we’re going to be wrong about whoever we take around that area. Godwin is a proven talent. We know what he can do at his peak. If he’s not there, oh well, we drop him or we bench him. It’s fine. Again, that’s probably going to happen with anybody you take around that area.
But I think that as easily as Godwin could be droppable by Week 6, he could finish as WR20. That’s something I’m willing to throw a dart at, especially at his current cost in 2026 fantasy drafts.
FANTASY RANKINGS: PFN’s FREE Fantasy PPR, Half-PPR, and Non-PPR Rankings
Chris Godwin Jr.’s Week 1 Fantasy Outlook
Analysis provided by PFN Analyst Kyle Soppe.
Godwin has 4 1,000-yard seasons on his resume, 3 with at least 7 scores, and even a 100-catch campaign. He’s been a productive player in this game for nearly a decade, especially in PPR leagues.
We seem to be nearing the end.
In 2025, he lost more than a yard off of his per-route average from the year prior and gave us just 2 games with 60+ yards, both of which were more a result of the opponent (Cardinals and Dolphins) than anything.
If you’re bullish on Godwin, this is the week to use him in DFS, but I’m not tempted to play with fire: I’m not sold that the target-earning abilities are anything more than average at this point, and I really don’t think he’s going to be prioritized when the Bucs get into scoring position.
As a contrarian way to play a popular game in DFS? Be my guest, but that’s about the only exposure I’m considering to the veteran this week.
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Where Godwin Ranks Among 2026 Wide Receivers
- Jakobi Meyers | JAX
- Wan’Dale Robinson | TEN
- Michael Wilson | ARI
- Alec Pierce | IND
- Courtland Sutton | DEN
- Chris Godwin Jr. | TB
- Khalil Shakir | BUF
- Makai Lemon | PHI
- De’Zhaun Stribling | SF
- Jordan Addison | MIN
- Romeo Doubs | NE
See PFN’s 2026 PPR Wide Receiver Rankings for more.
