Tampa Bay Buccaneers wide receiver Chris Godwin is currently struggling with a knee injury. The former Pro Bowl wide receiver is entering the fantasy playoffs as the WR38. He also is struggling with a bit of form as of late.
Will Godwin play today against the Green Bay Packers? What is the latest news regarding his knee injury? And, if Godwin does play today, what is his fantasy football outlook against the Packers?
Is Chris Godwin Going To Play Week 15?
Godwin has been struggling with a knee injury over the past few weeks. However, this has not caused him to miss any time. Nonetheless, the Buccaneers’ coaching staff has been concerned about the knee injury, publically stating this is the reason for Godwin’s reduced productivity in recent weeks. This has led to skepticism from those closest to him, including his wife, who called out the Buccaneers coaching staff and called them “liars.”
However, while Godwin has played through the pain in recent weeks, it is clear the injury is affecting him and stopping him from achieving the heights he reached in 2019 which led to Godwin being a WR1 in fantasy football and a Pro Bowl selection.
Godwin did not practice on Wednesday or Thursday this week. However, he did return to practice on Friday, albeit, in a limited capacity. These missed practices appear to be the coaching staff managing an ongoing injury as opposed to the injury stopping him from practicing altogether.
And Adam Schefter of ESPN appeared to confirm the same thing this morning when he posted his update. He said on X, “Buccaneers’ WR Chris Godwin, listed as questionable for Sunday due to a knee injury, is expected to play vs. the Packers, per source.”
Therefore, it appears Godwin will play. However, what is his expected fantasy outlook against the Packers this afternoon?
What Is Godwin’s Potential Fantasy Outlook for Today?
Godwin is currently the WR38 coming into the fantasy playoffs. What will concern fantasy managers more is that he has failed to reach eight fantasy points in his past five games.
In fact, Godwin has only reached 10 or more fantasy points just three times this season. And only once since Week 6.
MORE: PFN’s FREE NFL Playoff Predictor
Godwin is currently ranked as the WR40 in our PFN Consensus Rankings. He takes on the Packers today, who are a top-eight defense against wide receivers so far this season. The Packers are only allowing 24.8 fantasy points per game to wide receivers so far this season.
As such, it is extremely difficult to start Godwin in any fantasy format. Godwin has only logged one touchdown in his past six games. And that was a rushing touchdown against the 1-12 Carolina Panthers — a game where he didn’t catch any of his three targets.
The only slight optimism for fantasy managers was Godwin managed to see 11 targets last week against the Atlanta Falcons. Today’s game should see a similarly tight game to that one, and he should see a reasonable amount of targets to be effective today.
However, he is relying on quarterback Baker Mayfield, who has a completion percentage of just 48% over the past two weeks, to be more efficient and effective with his passing. Should that happen, Godwin could develop into a Flex-worthy start.
Fantasy managers should only be starting Godwin out of necessity or in deeper leagues requiring three or more wide receivers to be starting. The fact he only has two touchdowns all year and that his quarterback has regressed from the highs of earlier in the season, mixed in with this knee injury, means a lot of this will need to break right for Godwin to return top-24 WR numbers this afternoon.
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