The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have had some weapons, and they've been fortunate enough to hang on to them for quite some time.
The Bucs brought on wide receiver Mike Evans on in 2014 and he's still going with the team, recently re-signing with Tampa Bay on a two-year deal after netting a 1,000-yard season in every year of his 10-year career. The team then added Chris Godwin in 2017, and he, too, has been a weapon for the Bucs. Other receivers have come and gone alongside them in the past eight years, but Evans and Godwin have been the anchors.
And as it turns out, the consistency and production between the two of them may quite literally be second to none.
NFL data analyst Arjun Menon put out a data chart on Wednesday that showcases the total amount of receiving yards in every wide receiver room as they stand at the moment, and the Bucs reign supreme — Tampa Bay's wide receiving room has accounted for 19,713 yards, good for most in the NFL, followed closely by the Tennessee Titans at 19,556 and the Chicago Bears at 19,218.
For the Bucs, Evans and Godwin are the biggest aspects of this stat. The duo accounts for 18,370 of that 19,713 yards, good for 93% of Tampa Bay's total receiving yards among the unit. The stat makes Evans' contributions even more staggering, as he alone accounts for 59% of those receiving yards.
Of course, this stat doesn't necessarily attest to how good a receiving corps is — some, like the Green Bay Packers, are just very young. What it does reveal, though, is just how consistent both Evans and Godwin have been, and even more spectacularly, the duo have been Buccaneers for their entire careers. Both the Titans and the Bears are boosted by players like DeAndre Hopkins, Calvin Ridley and Keenan Allen, and none of those players were drafted by the teams they play for now.
The future is secure for Evans going forward (at least two more years, anyway), but Godwin's is less clear. Godwin will be playing on the last year of his contract in 2024, and what the Bucs decide to do after that will likely depend on how extensions go with players like Antoine Winfield Jr. and Tristan Wirfs.
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