{"id":750149,"date":"2026-02-13T21:37:16","date_gmt":"2026-02-13T21:37:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/750149\/"},"modified":"2026-02-13T21:37:16","modified_gmt":"2026-02-13T21:37:16","slug":"buccaneers-offer-clue-on-mike-evans-nfl-future","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/750149\/","title":{"rendered":"Buccaneers Offer Clue on Mike Evans\u2019 NFL Future"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"Paragraph_blockParagraph__I2kr4\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.newsweek.com\/topic\/sports-nfl-buccaneers\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Tampa Bay Buccaneers<\/a> wide receiver Mike Evans played the 2025 campaign on the final year of his contract.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_blockParagraph__I2kr4\">More News:\u00a0<a>Source: Rams Still Figuring out Kliff Kingsbury\u2019s Role<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_blockParagraph__I2kr4\">If the Buccaneers do not extend his contract before the start of the new league year, Evans will enter free agency.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_blockParagraph__I2kr4\">Evans, a 2014 first-round pick out of Texas A&amp;M, has spent his entire career with the Buccaneers. He suffered two significant injuries (hamstring, broken clavicle) last season, only appearing in eight games for Tampa Bay. <\/p>\n<p><img id=\"11522778\" alt=\"Mike Evans #13 of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers\" caption=\"TAMPA, FLORIDA - JANUARY 03: Mike Evans #13 of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers warms up prior to the game against the Carolina Panthers during a game at Raymond James Stadium on January 03, 2026 in Tampa, Florida. (Photo by Mike Ehrmann\/Getty Images)\" credit=\"\" sourcealt=\"\" sources=\"[]\" fetchpriority=\"auto\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"4272\" height=\"2848\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" style=\"color:transparent;aspect-ratio:inherit;object-fit:cover\"   src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/GettyImages-2254521184.jpeg\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_blockParagraph__I2kr4\">More News: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.newsweek.com\/sports\/nfl\/packers-matt-lafleur-forced-move-on-from-coach-11480938\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Packers\u2019 Matt LaFleur Forced to Move On From Coach He Wanted to Keep<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_blockParagraph__I2kr4\">Evans caught 30 passes for 368 yards and three touchdowns.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_blockParagraph__I2kr4\">With 2025 first-round pick Emeka Egbuka and Chris Godwin Jr. on the roster, the Buccaneers could decide to let Evans walk in free agency and use that salary on other positions for a team that failed to reach the playoffs.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_blockParagraph__I2kr4\">During an episode of The Athletic&#8217;s &#8220;Scoop City&#8221; released on Thursday, NFL insider Jesse Palmer<a href=\"https:\/\/podcasts.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/scoop-city-inside-the-nfl\/id1756145167?i=1000749484432\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"> suggested<\/a> the Buccaneers believe they can keep Evans in 2026. They hope Evans can team up with Egbuka and Godwin to give a healthy quarterback Baker Mayfield an opportunity to have an explosive year.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_blockParagraph__I2kr4\">&#8220;The one thing that I would add to that, too, is talking to some people down there,&#8221; Palmer said. &#8220;Baker Mayfield just was not healthy the second half of the season, just so banged up&#8230;<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_blockParagraph__I2kr4\">&#8220;Mike (Jones), well I&#8217;m fascinated to see what happens. But they were like, &#8216;We&#8217;re stoked, man, because we have Baker healthy. Emeka Egbuka learned all three positions as a rookie. Godwin, we think is going to be back to himself.&#8217; And then the interesting one was, &#8216;And then we still have Mike&#8217;. And I&#8217;m like, still have Mike? Is he? Is he coming back? Okay, let&#8217;s see.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_blockParagraph__I2kr4\">It appears the Buccaneers have a plan to try and keep Evans on the roster.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_blockParagraph__I2kr4\">Evans, 32, has appeared in 176 games and started 175. He recorded 866 receptions for 13,052 yards and three touchdowns.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_blockParagraph__I2kr4\">Evans has earned two second-team All-Pro honors. He&#8217;s earned six Pro Bowl nominations. He&#8217;d be another key piece to help elevate the Buccaneers back into the playoff race.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_blockParagraph__I2kr4\">For more on the Buccaneers and the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.newsweek.com\/topic\/sports-nfl\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">NFL<\/a>, head to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.newsweek.com\/sports\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Newsweek Sports.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tampa Bay Buccaneers wide receiver Mike Evans played the 2025 campaign on the final year of his contract.&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":750150,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2077],"tags":[211,7,700,6,704,250,2597,2596],"class_list":{"0":"post-750149","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tampa-bay-buccaneers","8":"tag-buccaneers","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-mike-evans","11":"tag-nfl","12":"tag-tampa-bay","13":"tag-tampa-bay-buccaneers","14":"tag-tampabay","15":"tag-tampabaybuccaneers"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116065486346439791","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/750149","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=750149"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/750149\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/750150"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=750149"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=750149"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=750149"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}