Joe isn’t sure the Bucs are hellbent on wanting to extend Mike Evans… this summer.
Evans, who tied the great Jerry Rice for most consecutive 1,000-yard receiving seasons last year at 11, has been a team anchor since he was drafted in 2014.
The future Hall of Famer will retire with the Bucs. Some day. Who knows how soon that may be? He’s now in the final year of his contract.
Joe isn’t sure the Bucs want to extend Evans this summer. That doesn’t mean the Bucs won’t. But Tyler Sullivan of CBS seems to think Evans is more likely than not to get extended.
Soon.
…it would be pretty remarkable to see Evans playing anywhere other than Tampa. The 31-year-old continues to be among the best boundary receivers in the NFL and has registered 11 straight seasons of 1,000 yards. His current deal pays him an AAV of $20.5 million and should continue to be in that range, if not exceed it.
Here is why Joe thinks the Bucs are not in a hurry to extend Evans:
You can probably count on one hand how many stud receivers there on in the NFL over the age of 30. Generally, 30 or 31 years old is the DMZ when top-shelf receivers begin to fade. That’s Father Time doing his natural and undefeated thing.
Armed with that info, Joe has a hunch the Bucs want to see how Evans, who turns 32 in August, plays this fall. It wouldn’t be very smart to extend Evans to top-shelf money this summer only to see Evans start to slip or show signs that he’s a senior citizen wide receiver.
The Bucs likely have a ton of good players they will need to re-sign, or want to. Luke Goedeke, Zyon McCollum and Cade Otton are going to want to be paid. Lavonte David may want another season, and Haason Reddick is a wild card. Each is in a contract year. The following season Calijah Kancey, Cody Mauch and YaYa Diaby will be in contract years.
And oh yeah, Baker Mayfield is going to want to be paid, too. His contract is up after 2026 and Joe wouldn’t be shocked if his agent and Bucs AC/DC-loving general manager Jason Licht have already talked turkey about a reworked deal.
So Joe bets the team will be cautious about extending Evans rather than being aggressive. The Bucs are very close to the point of counting nickels versus throwing Team Glazer loot around.
