Baker Mayfield Is Confident Mike Evans Will Return
January 29th, 2026
Somewhere on Davis Islands, Baker Mayfield is laughing at today’s fresh rumor/report that pending free agent Mike Evans is thinking of moving on from the Buccaneers.
Mayfield was asked to make a plea for Evans to return to the Bucs on yesterday’s edition of The Rondé Barber Show, a WFLA streaming property.
Mayfield said it’s unnecessary.
“Mike’s too much of a competitor and cares too much about Tampa to end his career without 1,000 yards, without a division championship, without a playoff run,” Mayfield said. “First of all, that just speaks to who Mike is, but that’s the truth. And you know he doesn’t want to do that. You can just kind of feel it. Listen, I don’t have any info. I’ve told Mike, ‘This is your decision. Take your time doing it.’ But understanding who Mike is, this is my guess — that he doesn’t want to end it that way. He knows the potential [in Tampa] if we’re able to stay a little bit more healthy. Zac [Robinson] will do great things for us and we’ll go from there.
“But Mike’s got more in the tank. You could tell with the energy, the fire he had at the end of the year.”
Commenting on Evans’ football tank potentially being close to empty, Mayfield said it’s “not even close.”
As Joe wrote, If Evans’ really is thinking hard about another team, the Bucs have the franchise tag at their disposal. That would stop Evans from moving on in 2026.