Mike Evans could be close to a nice raise from the Buccaneers
Mike Evans has been a pillar of consistency in Tampa Bay unlike any the league has ever seen. Since coming into the league in 2014, he's registered 1000 yards receiving in every season of his career. And that included his rookie season with Mike Glennon and Josh McCown throwing him the ball. Evans never has […]
Mike Evans has been a pillar of consistency in Tampa Bay unlike any the league has ever seen. Since coming into the league in 2014, he's registered 1000 yards receiving in every season of his career. And that included his rookie season with Mike Glennon and Josh McCown throwing him the ball.
Evans never has received the respect that he deserves from outside of Tampa Bay. Whether that's because of playing for the small market Buccaneers, because he's not been a first team All-Pro receiver, or some other misplaced reason, Evans' name has been left out by many in the media as being among the best in his peer group. Evans didn't even make CBS Sports' Pete Prisco's list of Top 100 players for 2023.
But the Buccaneers could be about to make Evans' hard work pay off in a big way.
According to Tampa Bay Times' reporter Rick Stroud, Evans and the Bucs have begun talks on a contract extension, which would be his third contract with the team. The Bucs signed Evans to his rookie contract of 4 years, $14.63 million on June 12, 2014. He signed a 5-year, $82.5 million extension on March 9, 2018, carrying him through the 2023 season under contract with the Bucs.
Now, it's time for the team to make a decision on the greatest skill position player in the franchise's history, and it appears they're working to keep him from going anywhere.
“Mike loves Tampa,” said Evans’ agent Deryk Gilmore via the Tampa Bay Times. “I know the feeling is mutual. His production is the best of all the guys out there. … The Bucs’ ownership has to love that Mike isn’t even an off-the-field conversation but an on-the-field terror. I’ve got to think they would like to lock him up to a third deal.”
The offseason was filled with talking heads and writers claiming it was time for the rebuilding Bucs to trade Evans as part of the process, which completely ignores the fact that the Bucs would have gained almost nothing in the way of cap savings if they had traded away Evans.
Pro Football Focus projects Mike Evans to receive an extension in the neighborhood of 3 years, $63 million.
With an average annual value of $21 million, that would put Evans 9th in the NFL in that category, just ahead of Chicago's D.J. Moore and Keenan Allen of the Chargers, per Spotrac. It would be a nice little bump up from the $16.5 average annual value of his current deal.
And it's not far off at all from what the Buccaneers did with their other talented receiver Chris Godwin. The Bucs and Godwin reached a contract extension of 3 years, $60 million in March 2022. It showed a level of faith in Godwin's production and ability despite him recovering from an ACL tear that he suffered in the 2021 season.
The Bucs are hopefully showing that level of faith and commitment to a player who has never faltered with his play on the field or his desire to continue wearing the pewter and red.
Featured image via Nathan Ray Seebeck-USA TODAY Sports
