When it was first discovered that the Bucs would have another offense this year, many wanted to know what it would mean for star wide receivers Mike Evans and Chris Godwin. Both receivers have established themselves as two of the best in the game, thriving on Bruce Arians’ vertical offense and producing 1000-yard seasons and Pro Bowl berths. So what changes would come for them if Dave Canales implemented his plan?
Canales brought Seattle assistant receivers coach Brad Idzik from the Seahawks to become the Bucs wide receivers coach. So that’s another change for Evans and Godwin. Canales and Idzik were able to team up with another dynamic duo at wide receiver in Seattle with DK Metcalf and Tyler Lockett, another pair of 1,000-yard Pro Bowlers.
Metcalf has recorded 4,218 receiving yards and 35 touchdowns in four years, while Lockett has built a stellar career with 7,100 yards and 54 touchdowns in eight seasons. Each player has had success under the watch of Idzik and Canales, who also served as wide receivers coach when he was not coaching the Seattle quarterbacks.
Mike Evans and Chris Godwin have had two great careers in their own right and Evans kept building a Hall of Fame resume. On the way to a system with earlier success, would Evans and Godwin play a role similar to that of Metcalf and Lockett? Pewter Report featured Brad Idzik on a recent episode of the Pewter Report podcast where he answered that question and discusses at length Coaching Evans and Godwin, and the roles they will play this season.
How will Mike Evans and Chris Godwin be used?
Bucs WRs Chris Godwin and Mike Evans – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR
Is it really as simple as Mike Evans playing DK Metcalf in Dave Canales’ new strike? Bucs wide receivers coach Brad Idzik addressed that topic at the Pewter Report podcast.
“What it does for us with Mike, you can clearly see he’s 6-4, 6-5, and can run and stretch the field vertically,” Idzik said. “It gives us a good selling point for Mike when we say, ‘Hey, here’s all the things that you’ve done and I’m going to add that exactly to DK. Yeah, you have that role. But here are some other things that we’re also doing with can do you.’
“DK comes in as a rookie and then his progression from year two to three to put him in the slot – things that Mike has already done – it just helps to have that stuff already on tape. Really, you have to sell the offense to Mike by saying, ‘These are the roles we want you in. Here we want you to invest in the off-season to be ready and know what to expect for this upcoming season.”
Then there was Chris Godwin, whom Idzik raved about on the Pewter Report Podcast for being the ultimate professional. Godwin did not miss any volunteer training or drills during the off-season programs. While he has been a regular in Bruce Arians offense in recent years, Idzik and Dave Canales believe Godwin can be at his best in the perimeter.
“And when it comes to Chris, it’s funny – you take such a big guy, he was so good at the slot last year,” Idzik said. “Especially, I attribute some of that to ‘Okay, he’s coming out of rehab,’ he’s still a strong dude who will catch anything and he’ll run after the catch. So he’s got that under his belt, and now do we want to move him over to do more of the outside things he did before, he can still do it all.”
Brad Idzik explains the nuances of the new passing game
Bucs WRs Mike Evans and Chris Godwin – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR
If we break it all down, the verbiage changes in Dave Canales’ new attack, and there are some differences in certain routes and concepts from what Tampa Bay and Seattle did last year. But Idzik takes nothing away from either receiver’s skills. All he and Canales do is take what Mike Evans and Chris Godwin have already done and just add a little bit more to their roles.
And that means they will be moving targets by 2023. Evans will still play the X position as the split end, but he will also be used in the slot to create favorable matchups at times, and set in motion similar to how DK Metcalf was used in Seattle. The same will happen to Godwin, who will see time in the slot, as well as the Z receiver (flank), and also be set in motion.
“We have two big puzzle pieces that can do it all,” said Idzik. “You can just take on those roles when you look at DK Metcalf and his progression from year one to two to three and say, ‘Mike, you’ve done all this already. Where do all the nuanced changes come from? How you named things, depth in the route, footwork, versus what you’ve done and what we’re asking you to do here.”
“Those are the things that when you have a lot of experience, some things kind of become ingrained in you. Like, “Hey, I’m fourth out on this route,[it]takes me to so many yards.” It’s like, ‘Okay, well, we want you to make another revolution out of it. We’re going to break some muscle memory there. We need to introduce some new tools. That’s the hardest part.”
Mike Evans, Chris Godwin will be ready to make big plays in Scramble Drills
The best thing about having Mike Evans and Chris Godwin is that they are both humble and coachable and put winning over stats and everything else. There’s no ego with the Bucs’ amazing tandem, which is hard to come by in today’s NFL. Evans and Godwin have been very receptive to the new ideas from Dave Canales and Brad Idzik, and the various tweaks coming up for the new Bucs offense.
Bucs WRs Chris Godwin and Mike Evans, QB Baker Mayfield and OC Dave Canales – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR
“Chris, the reps he’s gotten this off-season have been amazing. Mike, he answered right away when he came [to OTAs]’ said Idzik. “I was like, ‘Hey Mike, I know you’ve been doing this for a long time, but can we add two more steps to this route? And he said, ‘Oh okay, I got you.’ As long as you tell them why, they will buy in. That was really great. It was great to show them some guys in DK [Metcalf] and Tyler [Lockett] doing it. Tyler, also with the nuance of broken plays and the scramble drill. That makes it so much easier for us to coach our guys – ‘Just keep playing.’”
Evans and Godwin both thrived as scramble drill receivers when Jameis Winston was under center at the time. Winston’s mobility would extend the games and he found Evans and Godwin regularly on the field with broken plays for big plays. Lockett and Metcalf did the same in Seattle, and there will be more of those opportunities this year in Tampa Bay with the number of rollouts, bootlegs, and waddles in the new onslaught.
“Both Kyle [Trask] and Baker [Mayfield], that’s guys who are athletic and they’re going to break the sack,” Idzik said. “They are going to extend plays, so you have to be ready for the second game. If we build in coded responses, Tyler, there’s no better man in the league. There really isn’t. He’s done it time and time again, whether it’s Russell Wilson or his Geno Smith, when the game fails, we say the ball finds energy. Well, Tyler is always the first to expend that energy, so we want to build that into our guys [in Tampa Bay] also.”
Watch Brad Idzik on The Pewter Report Podcast
Watch the recent episode of the Pewter Report Podcast with special guest: Bucs WR Brad Idzik by clicking the link below.
Shall #Bucs WRs Mike Evans and Chris Godwin have similar roles to what DK Metcalf and Tyler Lockett did with the Seahawks?
Brad Idzik explains how they just add more with different terminology. Both are receptive to the coaching. pic.twitter.com/OSsFlPQAc1
— PewterReport 🏴☠️ (@PewterReport) July 6, 2023
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