It pains no one to consider Mike Evans as a player for a team other than the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
However, the Bucs may still attempt to recruit another gifted pass-catcher in the first round of the 2024 NFL Draft even if Evans returns to the team on a new contract extension.
This season, Evans will turn thirty-one, and Chris Godwin is about to enter the last year of his current deal.
While Trey Palmer had moments of brilliance in his rookie campaign last year, the Bucs would be well advised to select one of the many blue-chip receivers available in this year’s draft class.
The Bucs may target one of the top three receiving prospects in this year’s class, but they won’t choose high enough to select any of the other top players:
Comparing Mike Evans’ 2023 season to any of his past campaigns may not reveal anything because he has virtually never had a bad year in the NFL.
Nevertheless, Evans turned 30 just before the 2018 season began, and while some observers might have predicted a decline in his production, the exact reverse happened.
Evans tied for the league lead with 13 touchdown grabs, and his 1,255 receiving yards were his highest since 2018. In fact, he achieved the most overall yardage per catch since 2019.
In addition, that turned out to be the final year of the protracted contract he inked with the Buccaneers in 2018.
When that didn’t happen, Evans decided to put the matter on hold until after the season ended. During the summer, Evans sought to get a new deal done with the only NFL organization he has known to date. Evans may, therefore, take a chance on his first visit to the unrestricted free agency market during his distinguished career.
Evans is clearly a top priority for the Buccaneers as they attempt to manage a tight salary cap position and retain their best players within the organization.
Evans’s popularity among Tampa Bay fans is also evident, and for good reason. Will he join Canton natives Lee Roy Selmon, Derrick Brooks, and Rondé Barber as players who have played their entire careers for the Buccaneers? His tenth consecutive stellar season seemed to dispel any doubt that he will eventually be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
On March 13, Evans and the other eighteen players on Tampa Bay’s 2023 roster might become unrestricted free agents.
It seems unlikely that the team will be able to keep all eighteen players for the 2024 campaign. We’ll prioritize and work toward those items on that list.
Therefore, we’ll be taking a closer look at ten players in the weeks before the new league year begins who are currently set to become unrestricted free agents in mid-March. The schedule for our 2024 Free Agent Focus breakdown is as follows:
QB Baker Mayfield on February 14.February 16: S Antoine Winfield Jr.February 21: RB Edmonds Chase
February 23: K McLaughlin, ChaseFeb. 28: Mike Evans, WR
First of March: DL Gholston Will
March 5: G Stinnie AaronMarch 6th: LB Devin White7 March: David Moore, WRMarch 8: Lavonte, LB David
In light of prospective roster changes in the upcoming weeks, this list could be modified. But now, let’s go on to the most successful offensive player in Buccaneers history.
Since the 2011 CBA, Evans has been a first-round draft selection, and he was given a normal four-year deal with a five-year team option.
Evans signed a five-year agreement that spanned the 2018–23 seasons prior to the Buccaneers exercising that fifth-year option in the 2017 offseason. He consented to several restructures of the deal over time in order to free up cap space.
