Mike Evans is not finished<\/a> in Tampa Bay.<\/p>\nSpeaking recently, Mayfield made it clear he believes Evans will be back for the 2026 season. The veteran receiver dealt with injuries in 2025 and saw his historic streak of 1,000-yard seasons come to an end, but Mayfield does not view that as a closing chapter. Instead, he sees a competitor who still has more to accomplish.<\/p>\n
Evans has built a legacy as one of the most consistent wide receivers in NFL history, and his presence remains central to Tampa Bay\u2019s offensive identity. Mayfield pointed to the competitive nature that defines Evans, suggesting that walking away after an injury-shortened season would not align with the veteran’s approach to the game.<\/p>\n
The Buccaneers are also entering a new phase offensively under coordinator Zac Robinson. A fresh structure and new energy on that side of the ball could provide additional motivation for Evans to return and help stabilize the unit.<\/p>\n
While no formal decision has been announced, Mayfield\u2019s confidence reflects a belief inside the building that Evans will continue leading the offense in 2026.<\/p>\n
Need a news break? Check out the all new PLAY hub with puzzles, games and more!<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Feb. 2, 2026, 11:31 p.m. ET Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Baker Mayfield sounds confident that Mike Evans is…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":725675,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2077],"tags":[95878,211,7,6,96509,96860,95882,96861,99565,95896,95888,95895,95899,95883,102070,96239,704,250,2597,2596,95881],"class_list":["post-725674","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa-bay-buccaneers","tag-accessfree","tag-buccaneers","tag-football","tag-nfl","tag-sstssportsnflbuccaneers","tag-sstsnbuccaneers","tag-tagamerican-football","tag-tagbaker-mayfield","tag-tagmike-evans","tag-tagnational-sports","tag-tagnfl","tag-tagnfl-hub","tag-tagoverall-neutral","tag-tagsports-news","tag-tagtampa","tag-tagtampa-bay-buccaneers","tag-tampa-bay","tag-tampa-bay-buccaneers","tag-tampabay","tag-tampabaybuccaneers","tag-typestory"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/725674","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=725674"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/725674\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/725675"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=725674"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=725674"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=725674"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}