Tampa Bay Buccaneers place franchise tag on wide receiver Chris Godwin, 26, source says

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers placed their franchise tag on veteran wide receiver Chris Godwin, a source told ESPN on Tuesday.

A long-term deal with Tampa Bay could get done before Monday's legal tampering period kicks off, but no contract will be done by today's 4 p.m. ET deadline, a source said. As such, he'll receive $19.18 million. The two sides had been working on hammering out a new contract for the last 24 hours, sources said.

Godwin suffered a torn ACL in the Buccaneers' Week 15 loss to the New Orleans Saints, ending his season. Even with the injury, he finished the season with a team-leading 1,103 receiving yards and 98 receptions.

Godwin, who turned 26 in February, underwent surgery this offseason to repair the injury, and coach Bruce Arians said at the NFL combine that Godwin is about 40% healed from his injury and that he has no concerns about his ability to bounce back.

«Knowing Chris and the way he works — he had a good surgery, and those guys are coming back faster and faster now — I don't think that's going to be a problem at all,» Arians said.

Last year, the Bucs could not reach an agreement on a new contract with Godwin, instead placing the franchise tag, worth $16 million, on him. Over the last three seasons, Godwin's notched 3,276 receiving yards — eighth most in the league in that span — while his 249 catches rank 10th and his 21 touchdowns 12th.

He has 342 receptions for 4,643 yards and 29 touchdowns in five seasons.