Tampa Bay Buccaneers wide receiver Chris Godwin will undergo surgery on his dislocated left ankle injury and will “probably be out for the year,” while wide receiver Mike Evans likely will be out until after the team’s Week 11 bye due to his hamstring injury, coach Todd Bowles said Tuesday.
Both of the team’s star wide receivers were injured in Monday night’s 41-31 loss to the Baltimore Ravens.
Bowles left open the possibility that Godwin could return later this season. Evans, meanwhile, was “hurting pretty good” Monday, Bowles said.
With 1:04 left in regulation, Godwin caught a pass from Baker Mayfield and was tackled from behind by inside linebacker Roquan Smith, with Godwin’s left ankle appearing to get caught beneath Smith.
Smith’s tackle appears to have all the elements of a hip-drop tackle and is being reviewed by the NFL, sources told ESPN’s Adam Schefter on Tuesday. If it is deemed to be a hip-drop tackle, Smith would be subject to a fine.
Godwin and Evans entered the game tied for the league lead with five touchdown receptions over Tampa Bay’s first six games, with Mayfield calling them a “huge heartbeat of this team.”
Bowles defended keeping Godwin and other starters in the game despite it being out of reach with two onside kicks already attempted and no timeouts remaining, saying, “We don’t second-guess,” and pointing to the fact that the team was already without Evans.
Evans, who entered the game with a hamstring strain but was determined to play, caught a 25-yard touchdown pass from Mayfield on the opening drive, making him just the 11th player in NFL history to reach 100 receiving touchdowns.
But in the second quarter, Mayfield attempted to find Evans in the end zone on a 25-yard go route against Brandon Stephens and Evans couldn’t hang on to the pass. Evans fell to the ground and grabbed the back of his leg while writhing in pain.
Evans and Godwin sit No. 1 and 2 for the Bucs in career receiving yards. Evans had hoped to tie Jerry Rice this season for the most consecutive 1,000-yard seasons after recording 10 in his first 10 campaigns. Up until this point, Evans has missed only nine regular-season games, with just seven due to injury or illness.
But for Godwin, this is the second major career-threatening injury he has dealt with, having torn an ACL and an MCL in Week 15 of the 2021 season. Godwin said he finally felt as if he was back to his old self this summer, and several teammates and coaches took notice too.
ESPN’s Jenna Laine contributed to this report.