Tampa Bay Buccaneers Fantasy outlook: Chris Godwin injury impact

On Sunday Night Football, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers lost to the New Orleans Saints 9-0 and torpedoed a lot of fantasy rosters in the wake of putting up zero touchdowns. During the game, quarterback Tom Brady lost his top two wide receivers: Chris Godwin (ACL) and Mike Evans (hamstring). Additionally, running back Leonard Fournette exited the game early with a hamstring injury. While Evans and Fournette are week-to-week, Godwin is out for the year with a torn ACL.

The Buccaneers are in the midst of chasing the number one seed in the NFC. With Sunday’s loss to the Saints, they now shift their focus to just getting their offensive weapons healthy and entering the playoffs on a better note.

For fantasy purposes, managers will also have to also adjust their focus and expectations for any Buccaneers players on their roster.

Buccaneers Fantasy Football Outlook for the Rest of 2021

The lucrative Tampa Bay offense has treated fantasy managers well all season. That all came to a crashing halt in Week 15, which was also the first week of the fantasy playoffs. Fantasy managers who survived getting low fantasy points from the entire Buccaneers offense will need to regroup moving forward. Fortunately, there are still options to replace Buccaneers players who were lost to injury.

First, WR Chris Godwin is out for the rest of the year. Presumably, he will not be back until the middle or early part of the 2022 regular season. Fantasy managers can drop Godwin immediately to free up a roster spot. If WR Antonio Brown happens to be free and floating around on the waiver wire, managers should promptly pick him up or make him a priority waiver wire addition. Brown should be available for Week 16. Before his injury, Brown commanded a significant portion of targets from Tom Brady, despite the plethora of receiving options on the team. Now with Godwin out, Brown can immediately resume hogging targets from Brady.

WR Mike Evans is week-to-week with a hamstring injury, so fantasy managers can keep a close eye on the situation to see if Evans will be available to play Week 16 against the Carolina Panthers. Early reports indicate that Evans will be available this Sunday. The big receiver could have fantasy value as a red zone target, even if he is playing at less than 100%.

Other receiving options for the Buccaneers without Chris Godwin now shake out to include tight end Rob Gronkowski, WR Tyler Johnson, and WR Scotty Miller. While Gronkowski is an obvious must-start, Johnson would be the more interesting fantasy prospect of the latter two. Johnson was already getting WR3 work for the Buccaneers before Week 15. Even with Antonio Brown’s return, Tyler Johnson is worth keeping an eye on for a spot start for the rest of the season. In his last 2 games, Johnson had 10 targets with 7 catches for 58 yards. These numbers could easily increase with Godwin’s injury and Tom Brady looking Johnson’s way whenever he might have single coverage.

For “Playoff Lenny,” he is reportedly out for one or two games. Fantasy managers should put in a waiver wire add for Ronald Jones II. While Fournette has been a regular season fantasy league winner, his absence means fantasy managers needing a replacement need to look no further than his real-life backup. Ronald Jones has been a preseason darling for two years now, and the next two weeks will give him the chance to live up to those expectations. The volume of work that Jones will get on the ground is all fantasy managers need to try to fill the shoes of Leonard Fournette.

Tom Brady’s fantasy value takes a hit without Chris Godwin, but with the return of Antonio Brown, he should still be a must-start in fantasy leagues. The Buccaneers do not play his personal kryptonite, the Saints, anymore in the regular season so fantasy managers can start Brady with confidence.