{"id":803540,"date":"2026-03-10T02:37:13","date_gmt":"2026-03-10T02:37:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/803540\/"},"modified":"2026-03-10T02:37:13","modified_gmt":"2026-03-10T02:37:13","slug":"mike-evans-reason-for-leaving-buccaneers-has-been-revealed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/803540\/","title":{"rendered":"Mike Evans&#8217; reason for leaving Buccaneers has been revealed"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Mike Evans is going with the most classic line possible to explain his break-up with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers: \u201cIt\u2019s not you, it\u2019s me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The longtime Buccaneers wide receiver made the stunning decision on Monday to leave the only team he\u2019s ever played for. Evans <a href=\"https:\/\/larrybrownsports.com\/football\/mike-evans-leaving-buccaneers-49ers-free-agency\/744823\" type=\"link\" id=\"https:\/\/larrybrownsports.com\/football\/mike-evans-leaving-buccaneers-49ers-free-agency\/744823\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">signed a three-year contract with the San Francisco 49ers<\/a> in free agency that could earn him up to $60.4 million.<\/p>\n<p>The 32-year-old wideout wanted the Buccaneers organization and its fans to know that the decision <a href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.ph\/nfl\/story\/_\/id\/48155046\/star-wr-mike-evans-leaving-buccaneers-sign-49ers\" type=\"link\" id=\"https:\/\/www.espn.ph\/nfl\/story\/_\/id\/48155046\/star-wr-mike-evans-leaving-buccaneers-sign-49ers\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">wasn\u2019t due to any rift<\/a> with the team. <\/p>\n<p>Evans, through his agent Deryk Gilmore, made a statement noting that the decision \u201cwas never about the money.\u201d The team \u201cwould have loved for Mike to finish his career in Tampa,\u201d which would have made the surefire Hall of Famer the fourth Buccaneers lifer to \u201cwalk into Canton representing the organization.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMike Evans\u2019 decision to leave Tampa was never about money,\u201d the statement read, via ESPN\u2019s Adam Schefter. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Buccaneers were extremely aggressive in their pursuit and presented a very strong offer, demonstrating how much they value him and everything he has meant to the franchise. In the end, this decision simply came down to Mike wanting a new challenge and a fresh opportunity while he still feels he has a great deal left to give the game.<\/p>\n<p>Evans had no shortage of suitors for his services. The 6-time Pro Bowler <a href=\"https:\/\/larrybrownsports.com\/football\/mike-evans-linked-giants-chargers-49ers-giants\/744679\" type=\"link\" id=\"https:\/\/larrybrownsports.com\/football\/mike-evans-linked-giants-chargers-49ers-giants\/744679\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">reportedly had at least three other teams<\/a> trying to poach him away from Tampa Bay. But the allure of being a featured player in 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan\u2019s offense won out in the end.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mike Evans is going with the most classic line possible to explain his break-up with the Tampa Bay&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":803541,"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-803540","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\/116202559503552959","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/803540","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=803540"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/803540\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/803541"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=803540"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=803540"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=803540"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}