Lost in the excitement for the coming season is one potentially ugly fact:
Bucs icon Mike Evans is in a contract year.
It’s not like Evans is a young player. He’s on the wrong side of 30. Evans turns 32 in training camp. That is senior citizen age for star receivers.
Over at BSPN, follicly-challenged Billy Barnwell said he couldn’t help but think of Evans potentially walking away from the Bucs in March when Barnwell learned of Tampa Bay drafting Emeka Egbuka.
Barnwell typed he doesn’t get much of a vibe Evans will ever leave the Bucs, in part because two years ago there wasn’t a huge market for him when he was a free agent.
It’s difficult to imagine Evans wearing another team’s jersey, in part because so many of the people attending Bucs games are wearing his jersey. Team owners don’t like letting go of franchise icons without good reason. When Evans was able to negotiate with teams during the 2024 offseason, there wasn’t an enormous market for his services, and Tampa was able to bring him back on a relatively modest deal given his résumé. (Consider that Godwin got a larger average salary coming off a serious ankle injury.) I would be surprised if Evans played elsewhere before retiring, but the Egbuka addition might give the Bucs added leverage if they struggle to come to terms with their star wideout after the 2025 season.
Joe understands Barnwell’s point, but Team Glazer doesn’t too often get caught up in emotions. Remember, they let John Lynch walk. And Warren Sapp. And Derrick Brooks.
This area erupted when Team Glazer decided to move on from Brooks. And locals weren’t too giddy about Lynch bolting for Denver, either.
Team Glazer very much sticks to football and determines if a guy is worthy of returning, not relying on past accolades to dictate the future.
If Evans balls out again this year (when hasn’t he?), Joe would almost expect Evans to return, provided he doesn’t want to call it a career if he breaks Jerry Rice’s record for consecutive 1,000-yard seasons.
