The Tampa Bay Bucs hosted a press conference today, announcing Mike Evans’ new contract.
In Tampa, Mike Evans is a rather big deal. Evans was scheduled to hit the open market this offseason as a true free agent— making this offseason, a rather big deal. The Tampa Bay Bucs, to their credit, never allowed Evans’ contract negotiation to linger that long. Jason Licht and co. managed to work out a new deal, keeping Evans in a Bucs’ uniform for at least another two seasons.
Today, Tampa’s fan favorite wide receiver stepped to the microphone for the first time since the two sides struck a deal.
Jason Licht started the press conference expressing sincere gratitude towards his first ever draft selection as a general manager. The Tampa Bay Bucs’ GM tried his best to hold back emotions while explaining what Mike Evans has meant to the Bucs, both on the field as well as organizationally, before figuratively handing the mic over to Evans.
Mike Evans spoke with great clarity and was very upfront— Instantly articulating that a career goal for him is and has been to retire as a Tampa Bay Buccaneer.
“I obviously wanted to be a Buccaneer, and there were some things that we were working through. When you’ve played for one team for so long, you obviously think about what it would be like playing somewhere else. I have a lot of friends on other teams. It was a cool dream, but Tampa is my home – it’s where I’ve always wanted to be. We got a great deal – my agents got a great deal done with Jason [Licht]. I couldn’t pass up on it. I look forward to being a [Buccaneer] for life.”
Photo by Douglas P. DeFelice/Getty Images
Despite coming off of one of his better seasons as a professional, Evans avoided any notion of even the slightest complacency. When presented with his accomplishments and asked what more there is truly left to achieve he replied with a humble, hard-working tone—
“There’s a lot more for me to chase and there’s a lot more that I have to prove to my myself and the rest of the fanbase… I left a lot on the table last year and there’s some things I can do this offseason to help fix that.”
Throughout the press conference, Jason Licht was not shy about heaping praise onto his team’s greatest pass catcher— referring to Evans as, “The epitome of what u want, in a draft pick.”
Jason Licht went on to say, “Mike set the standard for me… And because of that, we’ve had some success. We’ve won a Super Bowl and we’re in position to chase another one, compete for another one, and win another one, because of Mike. That’s what Mike’s meant to me.”
Naturally, during a press conference for the team’s star wide receiver, questions gravitated towards the topic of the team’s star (and also unsigned) quarterback Baker Mayfield. Reporters very candidly asked if Evans felt like Mayfield was an elite quarterback, to which Evans responded—
“Absolutely… Me and Baker, we have a really good connection and I think he is an elite quarterback.”
The Bucs entered the 2024 offseaosn with three big-name free agents that captivated the conversations of Bucs’ fans. Now, with Mike Evans under contract and the franchise tag applied to Antoine Winfield Jr. only one remains. Mike Evans spoke very highly of his quarterback from a season ago— Following Mayfield’s contract negotiations will be an interesting storyline in the coming days/weeks.
To watch the press conference in its entirety, click the link below:
https://youtu.be/MI_N1VdgOuM?feature=shared
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