{"id":717877,"date":"2026-01-31T01:14:24","date_gmt":"2026-01-31T01:14:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/717877\/"},"modified":"2026-01-31T01:14:24","modified_gmt":"2026-01-31T01:14:24","slug":"buccaneers-mayfield-doesnt-think-mike-evans-is-done-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/717877\/","title":{"rendered":"Buccaneers’ Mayfield Doesn’t Think Mike Evans Is Done"},"content":{"rendered":"

Nobody knows what Tampa Bay Buccaneers legend Mike Evans will do.<\/p>\n

Maybe he\u2019ll return to the Bucs, the only NFL franchise he\u2019s known in his 12-year-career.<\/p>\n

Maybe he\u2019ll play for another team, which would be his prerogative as a free agent.<\/p>\n

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Retirement is also an option, since Evans is going to be 33 in August and is already older than Barry Sanders, Jim Brown, and Calvin Johnson were when they retired. We don\u2019t know what\u2019s going to happen with Evans, and since free agency doesn\u2019t open until March 11, we might not know for a while. But one person who knows Evans better than most doesn\u2019t think he\u2019s played his last game.<\/p>\n

Before the 2025 season, Evans told media that he planned on having one of his best seasons, and after that, would consider retiring.<\/a><\/p>\n

The first part of that plan didn\u2019t come into fruition.<\/p>\n

Evans suffered multiple injuries, which cost him nine games and a chance to break the NFL record for consecutive 1,000-yard seasons<\/a>, which he now shares with Hall-of-Fame receiver Jerry Rice, with 11.<\/p>\n

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This might have been tolerable for Evans had the Bucs been a winning team, but that didn\u2019t end up happening, either. The Bucs started 6-2, but lost seven of their last nine games to finish with a losing record and, for the first time since 2019, without an NFC South title.<\/p>\n

Buccaneers quarterback Baker Mayfield doesn\u2019t know what Evans is going to do, and doesn\u2019t want to influence his teammate one way or the other.<\/p>\n

But Mayfield told Bucs great Rond\u00e9 Barber on “The Rond\u00e9 Barber Show” on Wednesday that he can\u2019t see Evans going out this way.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnderstanding who Mike is, this is my guess, that he didn\u2019t want it to end this way,\u201d Mayfield said. \u201cHe knows the potential if we\u2019re able to stay a little bit more healthy.”<\/p>\n

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Mayfield said he expects new offensive coordinator Zac Robinson<\/a> to provide a big boost for the offense, and that Evans has \u201cmore in the tank.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou could tell with the energy, the fire he had at the end of the year,\u201d Mayfield said.<\/p>\n

To Mayfield\u2019s point, Evans showed late in the season that he can still play at a high level.<\/p>\n

In Tampa\u2019s Thursday Night loss to the Atlanta Falcons at home on Dec. 11, Evans caught six passes for 132 yards.<\/p>\n

Evans also isn\u2019t far removed from posting WR1 production, having eclipsed 1,000 yards in 2024.<\/p>\n

The thought of Evans ending his career in a place other than Tampa is hard to imagine, and getting him back would be a big boost to a franchise still recovering from the 2025 collapse.<\/p>\n

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\u3164<\/p>\n

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