Tom Brady's return to the NFL changed the mentality in Tampa Bay from a club that could have decided to rebuild to one in reload-mode to make another run at a Super Bowl.
Chris Godwin was going nowhere even before Brady's return, but the star receiver, who inked a new three-year contract, said the club's approach is different with the G.O.A.T. back.
"It changes everything," Godwin told NFL Network's Sara Walsh on Monday. "Everybody knows the player that Tom is. It's like the Brady effect. Guys want to come and play with him. They want to come here and have that opportunity to win championships. Honestly, we have great guys here already. We have great players here already on offense, on defense, great leaders. Then you add that piece back in the mix, and it's like now who else wants to come be a part of it? I was elated. I was gassed up. I'm still gassed up. Shoot, we've already been at this two years, and it's only going to keep going up from here."
After Brady returned, the Bucs re-signed center Ryan Jensen, cornerback Carlton Davis, guard Aaron Stinnie, and receiver Breshad Perriman. They added receiver Russell Gage and cornerback Logan Ryan in free agency. Tampa also swung a trade with New England for guard Shaq Mason to reunite the blocker with Brady.
There are still holes, but TB12's return answered the biggest question on the roster. Now the Bucs are back in Super Bowl mode.
The big question for Godwin is if he'll be full-go come the start of the season after suffering an ACL tear in mid-December. The 26-year-old said he's on track in his rehab at this point.
"I'm feeling really, really good," he said. "I think I'm in a really good spot right now. Rehab's going great, thankfully. But I'm really just taking it one day at a time. It's such a long process that whenever I start projecting out too far you start having way too many thoughts going on. I can only focus on right here, right now. That's how I've gotten to this point. That's what's gotten me to the NFL and gotten me to this point where I'm signing my second contract."
