While football may be the ultimate team sport, for the Kansas City Chiefs, a huge priority is making sure quarterback Patrick Mahomes has what he needs to be successful. In the past couple of seasons, Mahomes has seen his production drop off a little from his record-setting numbers at the start of his career. A big part of that is the lack of reliable weapons he has had to work with. So it is understandable that the Chiefs would constantly be looking for opportunities to upgrade Mahomes' weapons.
Recently, it was noted that before free agent receiver Stefon Diggs signed with the Washington Commanders, the Chiefs were one of the other teams that was interested in him. That makes sense considering their lack of wide receiver production in recent years. Then, when you factor in that Rashee Rice has had off-the-field issues and has looked sluggish to start camp coming off an injury, and Xavier Worthy has already missed time after getting dinged up in camp, the need seems even greater.
Yes, rookie Cyrus Allen has looked fantastic, but K.C. has to keep the cupboard stocked with quality options, and it really feels like the Chiefs could use one more guy in their room. Unfortunately for the Chiefs, there aren't many options left to fill their wide receiver needs. So if Kansas City is serious about adding someone, they may have to make a trade to do it.
The question then becomes: What wide receiver who is talented enough to upgrade the room could be available? A natural place to start is with veteran wide receivers who are going into the last year of their contracts. Of those wideouts, the one who might make the most sense is the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' Chris Godwin.
Godwin is 30 years old and in the last year of his current deal with the Bucs, with a big $33.7 million cap hit this season. He does have a club option for 2027 that would come at about a $30 million cap hit. Godwin has missed part of the past two seasons with injuries, and the Bucs may not feel like they want to invest that much money in Godwin going forward.
The other factor for them is that they have some talented young wide receivers as well. Emeka Egbuka looked like he had true No. 1 receiver upside last year, and rookie Ted Hurst has been lighting up training camp and looking like he may be able to step right into Mike Evans' X-receiver role in year one. Jalen McMillan has looked promising as well, but he's battled some injury problems of his own.
If the Bucs think they can compete for the NFC South, they may not want to deal Godwin before the season starts and would prefer to keep their solid group of wideouts intact for Baker Mayfield. However, football is a business, and it's possible the front office may want to get a draft pick return for an expensive player while he is finally healthy. If Godwin were to get hurt this season, they would likely just let him walk at the end of the year and have nothing to show for it.
The other possibility is that they look to move him during the season before the trade deadline. If either the Bucs don't look like contenders this year or the trio of Egbuka, Hurst, and McMillan looks good enough to handle the workload without Godwin, they could deal him then. So a Godwin trade definitely isn't a now-or-never type of situation.
While Godwin's expensive contract and injury history may not sound all that appealing to some Chiefs fans, the fact is that when he's been healthy, he is exactly the kind of receiver that the Chiefs have been missing in recent years. Before his recent injury issues, he put up a five-year stretch where he averaged about 87 receptions and 1,065 yards (and that was while competing with Mike Evans for targets). Godwin is known as a talented and reliable route runner with good hands.
Even if Cyrus Allen is the real deal, having two talented route runners to pair with deep threats like Xavier Worthy and Tyquan Thornton could make the Chiefs extremely hard to defend, especially if Travis Kelce has anything left in the tank. The Chiefs would likely have to part with a mid-round draft pick and free up enough space to take on at least some of Godwin's $22 million base salary, but if they are serious about trying to win this season, they could find a way to make it work.
So what do you think, Chiefs fans? Do you think Chris Godwin is a good fit for the Chiefs? Do you think the Buccaneers would be willing to part with him now or midseason, depending on how things go? The options to truly upgrade the KC wide receiver room are limited at this point, so Brett Veach is going to have to find a move similar to this if he wants to give Mahomes a true upgrade to the receiver room.
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