Buccaneers wide receiver Chris Godwin didn't practice on Wednesday. He is dealing with a hip injury that coach Bruce Arians called "day-to-day."

It looks like Chris Godwin could come down to a game-time decision, but we still have Friday's practice to monitor. If Godwin can't go, Mike Evans would see another big target load and we could see Justin Watson step up for Godwin in a tough matchup with the Rams on the road.

Bucs coach Bruce Arians says he thinks Chris Godwin can be a “close to a 100-catch guy” in 2019.

We agree, though Godwin will have to improve on his career 62.0% catch rate (or see 150+ targets) if he's going to come close to catching 100 passes. He finished strong in 2017, posting 3-98 on six targets against the Panthers in Week 16 and 7-111-1 on 12 targets against the Saints in Week 17. In the five games as a rookie where he played at least 50% of the snaps, he averaged 4.2 catches for 73 yards and 0.20 touchdowns on 7.2 targets per game. In 2018, he finished the season as the No. 25 receiver despite the fact that he played more than 70% of the snaps in just six games, five of which came with DeSean Jackson mostly sidelined from Week 13 to Week 17. Godwin is primed for a third-year breakout.

Word in Tampa before the end of the 2018 season was that wide receiver DeSean Jackson wanted to leave the Buccaneers rather than play out the final year of his contract with the team.

After Bruce Arians was hired as the team’s new head coach in January, there was a report that Arians wanted to speak to Jackson in hopes of convincing him to change his mind.

“I had a great meeting with DeSean about two weeks ago,” Arians said. “I have a ton of respect for him as a player and a person. I thought the meeting went great. I can’t speak for him, but I thought he was excited about it and I really look forward to working with him.”

Related players: Chris Godwin, Adam Humphries

Contrary to popular opinion, if Jackson were to stay in Tampa it wouldn't be a death knell to Chris Godwin's value since Godwin would likely replace Adam Humphries in the slot. Of the 56 receivers in 2018 who ran at least 25% of their routes out of the slot, Godwin was 21st in yards per route run. Humphries played 70% of the snaps last year, so if he walks in free agency there should be plenty of snaps available for both Jackson and Godwin.