On the final regular-season Sunday of the 2024 season, Mike Evans found himself at the center of a memorable moment in Buccaneers history when he caught a 9-yard pass to extend his 1,000-yard season streak to 11.

He won’t flirt with making it 12 in 2025. A concussion, hamstring injury and broken collarbone have limited Evans to five games this season, making the 1,000-yard mark unreachable with three weeks to play.

It’s a reality Evans knew was coming for some time.

“I broke my collarbone and had the concussion in one and I knew it was over,” Evans said on his streak, via the Buccaneers’ Players’ Table show. “It is just one of those things that it wasn’t meant to be, and that is OK, and I am cool with that. I tied with Jerry Rice, one of the greatest ever, if not the greatest player ever, so that is enough for me. I just want to help my team get to the playoffs now.

“50 seasons of Buccaneers history and I am in the history books as a Tampa Bay Buccaneer tied with Jerry Rice. That is amazing and you cannot even think of that as a kid to draw that up or to dream about that. So, I have been blessed to be a staple of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.”

With his consecutive 1,000-yard receiving streak on the line and less than a minute to play in Tampa Bay’s Week 18 win over New Orleans last season, Baker Mayfield found Evans for a completion that the wideout took another 7 yards to clear the milestone, tying Rice for the most such consecutive seasons in NFL history and sending the Raymond James Stadium crowd into a lovable frenzy.

It was a moment Bucs fans will cherish for decades to come, cementing Evans as one of the franchise’s all-time greats and placing him on a path toward Canton. His road has been much rockier in 2025, but his return to action in Week 15 proved he still has plenty of juice and the ability to make big plays the Buccaneers have lacked without him.

Tampa Bay will need it. The Buccaneers have lost five of their last six games, opening the door for Carolina to climb back into the NFC South race with three weeks left in the campaign.