{"id":149873,"date":"2025-09-11T21:21:11","date_gmt":"2025-09-11T21:21:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/149873\/"},"modified":"2025-09-11T21:21:11","modified_gmt":"2025-09-11T21:21:11","slug":"buccaneers-chris-godwin-tristan-wirfs-return-to-practice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/149873\/","title":{"rendered":"Buccaneers’ Chris Godwin, Tristan Wirfs return to practice"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sep 11, 2025, 03:21 PM ET<\/p>\n

Tampa Bay Buccaneers<\/a> wide receiver Chris Godwin<\/a> and left tackle Tristan Wirfs<\/a> returned to practice Thursday for the first time this season as the star duo work back from surgeries.<\/p>\n

“It’s great to see them out there. They were limited in practice, but they flew around and did the things we asked them to do. We’ll see how the week progresses right now,” Buccaneers coach Todd Bowles said Thursday, adding that the pair “looked good today.”<\/p>\n

Bowles said both players could be in play to return to action Monday night against the Houston Texans<\/a> but hedged that by saying, “they got a lot of tests to pass.”<\/p>\n

Sources told ESPN’s Adam Schefter last month that Godwin is unlikely to play until October as he continues recovering from the fractured ankle he suffered in Week 7 last season. Sources told ESPN’s Jenna Laine in July that Godwin underwent another minor procedure this spring to have his ankle “cleaned out.”<\/p>\n

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Wirfs underwent arthroscopic knee surgery in July and likely has a similar return to play timeline as Godwin.<\/p>\n

Still, quarterback Baker Mayfield<\/a> said Thursday that it was a lift to have his teammates, who he called “important guys for this building as a whole,” back at practice.<\/p>\n

“It’s good to see them though, Chris flying around, getting them back out there,” Mayfield said, adding that they brought “a little extra juice to practice.”<\/p>\n

The Buccaneers started the season short-handed at wide receiver with both Godwin and Jalen McMillan<\/a> sidelined. McMillan started the season on injured reserve with a neck injury. Rookie Emeka Egbuka<\/a> stepped up in their absence in Week 1, catching two touchdown passes in the victory over the Atlanta Falcons<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Buccaneers shuffled their offensive line in the opener to cover for Wirfs absence, shifting center Cody Barton<\/a> to left tackle, moving guard Ben Bredeson<\/a> to center and starting Mike Jordan<\/a>, who was elevated from the practice squad, at guard.<\/p>\n

Despite the injury from last season, the Bucs re-signed Godwin as a free agent earlier this year on a three-year, $66 million deal that includes two seasons fully guaranteed at $44 million. He ranks second in franchise history — behind only longtime teammate Mike Evans<\/a> — with 579 receptions, 7,266 yards and 39 touchdown catches.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sep 11, 2025, 03:21 PM ET Tampa Bay Buccaneers wide receiver Chris Godwin and left tackle Tristan Wirfs…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":149874,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[63],"tags":[349,99],"class_list":["post-149873","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nfl","tag-nfl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/149873","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=149873"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/149873\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/149874"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=149873"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=149873"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=149873"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}