{"id":763697,"date":"2026-02-20T03:23:12","date_gmt":"2026-02-20T03:23:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/763697\/"},"modified":"2026-02-20T03:23:12","modified_gmt":"2026-02-20T03:23:12","slug":"mike-evans-return-better-than-punchers-chance-insider-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/763697\/","title":{"rendered":"Mike Evans return better than puncher’s chance, Insider says"},"content":{"rendered":"

One of the biggest questions surrounding the Tampa Bay Buccaneers<\/a> this offseason is what will happen to Pro Bowl wide receiver Mike Evans<\/a>. He entered the offseason without a new contract. Evans already expressed his desire to play<\/a> a 13th NFL season in 2026. Despite his advanced age and recent injury history, several teams will likely be interested in the future Hall of Fame wideout.<\/p>\n

That has led to speculation that his days as a Buccaneer are over. But according to NFL Insider James Palmer, don’t count the Bucs out. During Friday’s episode of Scoop City, Palmer laid out his case<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll sound crazy here, I think it\u2019s Tampa [the most likely destination],\u201d Palmer said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just think in Tampa, they have a vibe there of what they have put together. Remember, Chris Godwin took less money. He was offered a lot more in New England [just] to go back to Tampa. Is Mike kind of in a similar vein?<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a winnable division.\u201d<\/p>\n

Clearly, playing in the NFC South has its advantages. In order to earn at least one home playoff game, it might only take eight or nine wins.<\/p>\n

The Buccaneers are coming off a highly disappointing 2025 season. What looked like a promising 6-2 start turned into an 8-9 finish, with the Carolina Panthers winning the NFC South<\/a> via tiebreak. The three seasons prior, Tampa won the division with eight, nine, and 10 wins, respectively.<\/p>\n

Evans has already accomplished almost everything a player can individually. He is the only player in NFL history to begin a career with 11 straight 1,000-yard receiving seasons. That surpassed the previous mark set by the GOAT himself, Jerry Rice. At this point in his career, winning likely takes on a bit more of a priority.<\/p>\n

And unlike many receivers of his caliber, speed has never been a prominent part of his game. The 6-foot-5 Evans has used his speed, body control, and excellent hands in the red zone. Those will not diminish like speed tends to into a receiver’s 30s.<\/p>\n

That will make the Buccaneers’ star a player of interest across the league, and Tampa’s job more difficult if they want to retain his services.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"One of the biggest questions surrounding the Tampa Bay Buccaneers this offseason is what will happen to Pro…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":763698,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2077],"tags":[211,7,700,6,2592,704,250,2597,2596],"class_list":{"0":"post-763697","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-nfl-free-agency","13":"tag-tampa-bay","14":"tag-tampa-bay-buccaneers","15":"tag-tampabay","16":"tag-tampabaybuccaneers"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116100819091233129","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/763697","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=763697"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/763697\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/763698"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=763697"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=763697"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=763697"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}