Philadelphia Eagles: Chris Godwin won’t be testing free agency after all

Will the Philadelphia Eagles pursue a veteran wide receiver in free agency?

Probably. They attempted to do so in 2021 in Kendrick Bourne and maybe with JuJu Smith-Schuster, depending on who you ask, and after overperforming with one of the youngest wide receiving corps in the NFL, adding a proven vet could make life a whole heck of a lot easier to Jalen Hurts, Nick Sirianni, and the rest of the Eagles’ offense.

Unfortunately, the number of available receivers who fit that bill is rapidly contracting, as one day removed from the announcement of Calvin Ridley’s one-year ban for gambling on NFL games, news broke that Chris Godwin, a local fan favorite from his time at Penn State, was going to either be franchise tagged or signed to a long-term deal by his current team, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

If players like Mike Williams, Allen Robinson, and Amari Cooper ultimately hit the market, the Philadelphia Eagles could still leave free agency with a big named playmaker. But it not? Well, let’s hope the first round rookie Howie Roseman drafts in 2022 is more DeVonta Smith than Jalen Reagor in terms of on-field readiness.

The Philadelphia Eagles can’t afford to go young on wide receiver again in 2022.

In 2021, the Philadelphia Eagles’ oldest wide receiver was Greg Ward.

Now, if you’ve been keeping up with the Eagles for a while now, the irony of that situation surely isn’t lost on you, as Ward played quarterback in Houston but only first earned consistent playing at wide receiver as a member of San Antonio Commanders of the AAF, but at 26, the multi-hyphenate was a good 18 months older than the team’s next-youngest receiver, JJ Arcega-Whiteside, who played a similarly minimal role in Nick Sirianni’s offense.

Of the three wide receivers who actually accounted for 94 percent of the team’s receptions, Quez Watkins, Jalen Reagor, and DeVonta Smith, only one, Watkins, was older than 22, and he only turned 23 a month before the regular season.

Can a team win with such a young receiving corps? Sure, only one of the Cincinnati Bengals’ Big 3 receivers, Tyler Boyd, wasn’t on a rookie-scale contract in 2021, and they clearly played well enough to make it to the Super Bowl. But for the Eagles to reach that level of on-field success, they too need to find a veteran receiver like Boyd who can provide a reliable option for their young quarterback when his younger counterparts are covered.

Unfortunately, that player probably won’t be Chris Godwin or Calvin Ridley, but hey, that doesn’t mean there aren’t a few nice options expected to be available next week. According to Spotrac, there are 87 wide receivers who are potentially headed for free agency, with a few more like Amari Cooper, who could become free before the start of the 2022 NFL calendar year. While all of those players obviously aren’t difference-makers, more than a few are, and fortunately, they come in all shapes and sizes.

Want a super-sized outside receiver who can be a threat on go-routes? Mike Williams and DJ Chark fit that bill. How about a diminutive YAC specialist who can make plays on special teams? Jamison Crowder and Braxton Barrios could both free themselves from Gotham Green and look to play for a team not named the New York Jets. Goodness, there’s even a legitimate social media star who just so happens to moonlight as a wide receiver who has ready been in contact with the team about a potential contract one year ago.

Hey, if the JJAW experiment is finally over, JuJu and Kenneth Gainwell could duke it out for the rights to wear 19 moving forward. That could be… fun, right?

Would it have been nice for the Philadelphia Eagles to take a shot at Chris Godwin? You bet, when healthy, Godwin is an incredible receiver on the field and could have been an asset to the locker room for the further development of DeVonta Smith, Quez Watkins, and even Jalen Reagor, but now that’s no longer on the table. No, the Eagles will have to key in on another wide receiver to fill out their roster, one who is healthy, complementary, and actually eligible to play.