Mike Evans grateful to remain a Buc, hopes Baker Mayfield also returns

Greg Auman

NFC South Reporter

TAMPA — As it turns out, when Bucs general manager Jason Licht got the call Sunday night that free-agent-to-be Mike Evans had agreed to terms on a new deal to stay in Tampa, he was at a charity event hosted by Tampa Bay Lightning coach Jon Cooper and talking with hockey legend Wayne Gretzky.

Licht got off the phone and returned to the conversation, so Gretzky was one of the first people to find out that the Pro Bowl receiver was staying with the Bucs for another two years.

“I went back in and was fist-pumping and all that, and I told Wayne Gretzky that we had signed Mike Evans,” Licht said Friday at a press conference officially announcing the receiver’s return. “And he said, ‘Whoa, he’s a great one.’ I thought that was pretty cool for him to say he’s a great one.”

It takes one to know one, it would seem. Evans, 30, has already rewritten the Bucs’ receiving records and helped the team to a Super Bowl win and three straight playoff appearances since. Already the highest-paid player in franchise history, Evans signed a two-year deal worth $41 million, with the chance to push it to $52 million with incentives and escalators.

Evans had hoped to have a new deal done a year ago, but he helped himself by tying for the NFL lead with 13 touchdown catches in a contract year. After 10 seasons in Tampa, it looked like he could test the waters of free agency next week, at least to see what the market was like, but he said his wife, Ashli, with him throughout his time with the Bucs, ultimately convinced him they should stay.

“I don’t want to say I was waiting for my wife to speak up, but … it just hit her,” Evans said. “She said, ‘Maybe we should stay in Tampa.’ I was like, ‘I want to be in Tampa.’ They offered me great money. I just wanted to see everything as a whole. Are we going to get Baker [Mayfield] back? Things like that. I know I can play with whoever’s at quarterback. I hope it’s…

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Publish date : 2024-03-08 19:29:19

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