{"id":764148,"date":"2026-02-20T08:22:19","date_gmt":"2026-02-20T08:22:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/764148\/"},"modified":"2026-02-20T08:22:19","modified_gmt":"2026-02-20T08:22:19","slug":"mike-evans-plans-to-return-for-13th-nfl-season-will-he-re-sign-with-bucs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/764148\/","title":{"rendered":"Mike Evans plans to return for 13th NFL season \u2014 will he re-sign with Bucs?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Yahoo Sports Daily hosts Caroline Fenton and Jason Fitz react to Mike Evans\u2019 plans to return for a 13th NFL season and discuss whether he\u2019ll stay with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers or sign elsewhere. Watch the full episode of Yahoo Sports Daily on YouTube<\/a> or YahooSports.TV<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Video Transcript<\/p>\n

Bucs six-time Pro Bowl wide receiver Mike Evans wants to keep playing.<\/p>\n

No shock there.<\/p>\n

Fully intends to play a 13th season in 2026.<\/p>\n

Where that will be is up in the air, as he’s an impending free agent, but his heart’s always been in Tampa.<\/p>\n

So let’s figure it out, because certainly free agency is about to hit the NFL, and everybody’s got eyes on how to improve their roster.<\/p>\n

Mike Evans played only eight games last year, failed to reach 1,000 yards for the first time in his career.<\/p>\n

But Carolina, I struggle to look at that and say, “Man, he’s not gonna play somewhere.”<\/p>\n

And we’re talking about somebody that has just over and over and over brought it, no matter what.<\/p>\n

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I can’t imagine- Yeah … that that’s the way he goes out of the league.<\/p>\n

He can’t.<\/p>\n

There’s no way.<\/p>\n

I was 0% surprised to see that Mike Evans wanted to come back.<\/p>\n

I think that we need to be, realistic about what Mike Evans will be in his age 33 season.<\/p>\n

There is something about that 30-year threshold where wide receivers, running backs, players just in general, start to see, you know, the back half of their career decline just a little bit.<\/p>\n

But the thing that I think is, is interesting and specific about Mike Evans, what makes him so great?<\/p>\n

It’s his size.<\/p>\n

That doesn’t go away with age.<\/p>\n

He, you know, he’s not gonna shrink and lose 50 pounds in the off-season.<\/p>\n

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So he just has such a big, dominating presence that’s really difficult for opposing corners.<\/p>\n

That doesn’t go away with age.<\/p>\n

The other thing that makes Mike Evans so special is he’s got hands.<\/p>\n

You throw anything his way, Mike Evans is gonna grab it.<\/p>\n

He’s got sticky mitts.<\/p>\n

That doesn’t go away with age.<\/p>\n

I look at DeAndre Hopkins as somebody very similar.<\/p>\n

DeAndre Hopkins’ calling card wasn’t speed, it was his hands.<\/p>\n

He can have that level of production at 34, 35 years old, because that just doesn’t go away the way that speed starts to dissipate with age.<\/p>\n

If I’m Mike Evans, I wanna go somewhere where I know I have a quarterback that is absolutely brilliant when it comes to football knowledge, right?<\/p>\n

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Like, I wanna go somewhere where I’ve got somebody that’s seen a lot of football, that I’m gonna be able to just have that communication with, that I’m just gonna be able to look over and see.<\/p>\n

Hell, we’re looking at Davante right now go in and continue to play at such a high level, no matter how old he gets.<\/p>\n

Why?<\/p>\n

Because he’s getting with quarterbacks that know how to make the most of veteran wide receivers.<\/p>\n

If I’m Mike Evans, I’m looking around at a Buffalo and Josh Allen.<\/p>\n

I’m looking around wherever Like, if, if, if my main focus, and I wanna say clearly, Mike Evans already has a Super Bowl ring, so he does not have to chase a Super Bowl ring.<\/p>\n

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Yes, I’m throwing shade at some people.<\/p>\n

Finally, Fitz, he can sniff a Lombardi!<\/p>\n

Finally.<\/p>\n

Yeah.<\/p>\n

Mm-hmm.<\/p>\n

‘Cause he hasn’t been doing that- Sure … in Tampa.<\/p>\n

No.<\/p>\n

I’m kidding.<\/p>\n

If you haven’t- Buffalo … seen the video, go find it.<\/p>\n

Google it.<\/p>\n

there are- Just Google it.<\/p>\n

Are Yeah, just Google.<\/p>\n

Just look it up.<\/p>\n

It’s not Yeah, yeah.<\/p>\n

You, you go ahead and do your own thing.<\/p>\n

there are a lot of teams that are far more wide receiver needy, where Mike Evans could probably be a bigger impact for.<\/p>\n

I look at the Patriots, I look at the Bills, I look at the- … Chiefs.<\/p>\n

Mike Evans could be a plug-and-play type of player, and make a, a massive impact for those teams.<\/p>\n

I don’t wanna see a world, though, where Mike Evans isn’t wearing a Tampa Bay Buccaneers uniform.<\/p>\n

Like, he’s a lifetime Buc.<\/p>\n

Close<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Yahoo Sports Daily hosts Caroline Fenton and Jason Fitz react to Mike Evans\u2019 plans to return for a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":764149,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2077],"tags":[211,4695,7,700,6,704,250,2597,2596],"class_list":{"0":"post-764148","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-deandre-hopkins","10":"tag-football","11":"tag-mike-evans","12":"tag-nfl","13":"tag-tampa-bay","14":"tag-tampa-bay-buccaneers","15":"tag-tampabay","16":"tag-tampabaybuccaneers"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116101994539727631","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/764148","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=764148"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/764148\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/764149"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=764148"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=764148"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=764148"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}