Chris Godwin Recalls His NFL Draft Experience
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers landed one of the biggest steals of the 2017 NFL Draft when they took wide receiver Chris Godwin with the 84th overall selection in the third round.
Godwin quickly established himself as one of the NFL's most promising pass-catchers, and broke out last season, finishing third in the NFL with 1,333 yards, despite missing the last 2.5 games of the season due to injury.
As this year's NFL Draft approaches, Godwin reflected on his own experience on draft weekend three years ago.
"My personal draft experience, it was interesting because obviously, everybody expects or just hopes to go as high as possible," Godwin said Thursday via video conference call. "So Day One was pretty interesting. As Day Two kind of progressed, I kind of felt like I could go anywhere on Day Two, so it really became like a waiting game. At times it was a little bit frustrating, but at the end of the day I realized that I was going to be exactly where I was supposed to be."
Godwin showed flashes of his lofty potential as a rookie, then established himself as Tampa Bay's unquestioned No. 2 target behind Mike Evans. Last year, he proved that he's become one of the NFL's most complete pass-catchers, as both he and Evans earned Pro Bowl nods.
"And all I ever asked for was an opportunity," Godwin said. "I knew that once I got wherever I was going to be, I was confident in myself and my ability and my work ethic that I was going to make a splash in some way, in some fashion and I would kind of work my way up the ladder."
Heading into the final year of his rookie contract, Godwin is expected to get a long-term extension from the Bucs sooner than later. He may have waited longer than he wanted to hear his name called on draft weekend, but he's made every other team feel sorry for passing on him ever since.
