{"id":771444,"date":"2026-02-23T16:57:21","date_gmt":"2026-02-23T16:57:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/771444\/"},"modified":"2026-02-23T16:57:21","modified_gmt":"2026-02-23T16:57:21","slug":"mutual-interest-between-bucs-mike-evans-wr-to-explore-free-agent-options","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/771444\/","title":{"rendered":"Mutual Interest Between Bucs, Mike Evans; WR To Explore Free Agent Options"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mike Evans<\/a>\u00a0will play in 2026<\/a>, meaning his decorated NFL career is set to include a 13th season. It remains to be seen if a new Buccaneers pact will be worked out or if a first ever free agent departure is in store. \"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

To no surprise, SportsBoom\u2019s Jason La Canfora reports<\/a> a mutual interest exists between Evans and Tampa Bay. The sides worked out a two-year, $41MM pact in 2024 just in time to prevent the franchise icon from testing the market. It appears that will not be the case this spring.<\/p>\n

Evans\u2019 agents have already conveyed his desire to seek out other options in free agency. La Canfora confirms the six-time Pro Bowler is assessing other teams based on the strength of their offenses and his potential fit. Playing on a Super Bowl contender is obviously a priority for Evans, who earned a ring in 2020 with Tampa Bay.<\/p>\n

The Bucs have\u00a0Chris Godwin<\/a> under contract for two more years, and the team has made a pair of recent draft investments at the receiver spot (third-rounder Jalen McMillan<\/a> in 2024, first-rounder\u00a0Emeka Egbuka<\/a>\u00a0in 2025). Moving on without Evans would leave those three in place as the core of Tampa Bay\u2019s passing attack, and there should be no shortage of other suitors lining up outside Evans offers. The Texas A&M product contemplated joining the Chiefs and Texans<\/a> prior to signing his latest Buccaneers deal.<\/p>\n

Injuries limited Evans to just eight games in 2025 and prevented him from registering a 12th consecutive 1,000-yard showing. He will be 33 by the start of next season, so a short-term offer from the Bucs or any other teams should be expected. As La Canfora notes, though, Evans is aiming to remain a full-time starting presence with Tampa Bay or a different suitor; he is still seen as an impact wideout by evaluators around the league. This situation will be worth watching closely as a result.<\/p>\n

The likes of\u00a0George Pickens<\/a> and Alec Pierce<\/a> are strong candidates to be retained via the franchise tag<\/a> shortly. That could leave Evans as one of the top wideouts available on the market once free agency begins in mid-March. Another Tampa Bay re-up remains a possibility at this point, but it may very well take longer than last time for Evans\u2019 future to be settled.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mike Evans\u00a0will play in 2026, meaning his decorated NFL career is set to include a 13th season. It…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":372970,"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-771444","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\/116121007542291585","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/771444","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=771444"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/771444\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/372970"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=771444"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=771444"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=771444"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}