Chris Godwin Jr. 2026 Season Preview — a proven alpha, a broken leg, an open door | Muffed

Chris Godwin has twice been a top-five fantasy receiver. Last year a fractured leg held him to nine games and nine points a game. Now Mike Evans is gone, the targets are open, and Godwin's the fortieth receiver off the board. Healthy, he's a steal; that's the whole question. The Muffed 2026 preview.

The 2025 season was a lost one: thirty-three catches for three hundred sixty yards and two touchdowns in nine games, nine-two a game, WR48 per game — capped by a fibula injury suffered early, on top of the ankle that ended his 2024. The signature, a seven-catch, a hundred eight-yard, one-score day against Miami in Week 17, was a glimpse of the player when right. But it was nine games of a diminished version.

The arc is the reason for interest: a decade of high-end production, including two nineteen-seven-a-game seasons — one as recently as 2024 — before the injuries. The talent and the role, when healthy, are WR1-caliber; he's a career-year-nine receiver whose down year was a broken leg, not decline.

What the data says: the touchdown rate is low and the sample is tiny, so 2025 tells us little except that he was hurt. The relevant facts are the proven volume and the fact that he's a slot technician whose game ages relatively well. The risk is the body — back-to-back significant lower-leg injuries are a real flag at his age.

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The situation, per the reports, swings it toward opportunity: Mike Evans left for San Francisco, vacating a huge target share, and Tampa Bay's GM says Godwin was "looking like himself" late in the season. A healthy Godwin in the slot, with Evans's targets up for grabs and Emeka Egbuka alongside, has a clear path back to volume.

The price: pick ninety-one and a half, the fortieth receiver. Verdict: WATCHLIST — the proven WR1 ceiling and the vacated Evans targets argue he's underpriced; the back-to-back leg injuries and his age argue you can't bank it. The counter for him: when healthy he's a top-tier slot producer, and the opportunity just expanded. Against: "when healthy" is carrying a lot after two lower-leg injuries in two years. The upside is real; so is the risk.

September watch: his health and snap count first — the leg is the question; then the target share with Evans gone and Egbuka established. Your guys, every week. That closes batch four of the next fifty — the countdown rolls on.