Talks on a new deal during the summer did not produce an agreement for Mike Evans, leaving him as a pending free agent entering the season. The uber-consistent wideout has had another strong campaign, though, upping his value on a third Tampa Bay pact. 
The Buccaneers want to retain Evans, Dianna Russini of The Athletic writes (subscription required). Efforts were made to ensure he would be in the fold beyond 2023, but little traction was found before the four-time Pro Bowler’s self-imposed Week 1 deadline arrived. Evans has been a major factor in the Bucs’ offense this year, however, including the team’s three-game win streak entering Sunday’s action.
The former first-rounder has already eclipsed the 1,000-yard receiving mark, meaning he has hit that threshold every season in his 10-year career. Evans has also scored double-digit touchdowns for the fifth time in 2023, and his pair of scores in today’s game has him in position to set a new personal best in that regard. To no surprise, then, Russini notes that Evans’ asking price has likely risen compared to where things stood in the offseason.
The Texas A&M product is playing out the end of his five-year, $82.5MM pact signed in 2018. The $16.5MM AAV of that deal sits well below the top of the market given the monster contracts a number of wideouts have signed in recent years. At the age of 30, it will be interesting to see how much term Evans will be looking for on a new pact in addition to compensation. Working out a new deal would replace the void years on his current pact, which calls for a cap charge of over $12MM in 2024.
Tampa Bay already has a pricey WR deal on the books, though, with Chris Godwin set to carry a cap hit of over $27.5MM next year. Extending him could lower that figure, but doing so would require committing future resources at the position to someone other than Evans. The latter was mentioned in trade talks at the deadline, but he was retained and a November report suggested Tampa Bay was willing to negotiate a new deal ahead of free agency.
Retaining Evans would provide valuable continuity to an offense which faces quarterback uncertainty at the moment. Baker Mayfield is firmly on the extension radar, though, and a new pact for him will no doubt include a considerable raise from his 2023 compensation. Whether or not Evans will be in place for the Bucs’ 2024 offense will be a major storyline for the team after the campaign has come to a close.
Pay the man his money!
The team should be fine with cap next year. They ate all that dead money this year, paying Godwin and Evans won’t be an issue. Evans is the priority if he returns, you bring Baker back for another 2 years but still draft a guy. If Evans leaves you blow it up.
Winfield is getting tagged if no long term deal.
Wirfs is next year.
LVD is a 1 year guy now.
Davis and Dean can be cut both are overrated and get injured every game
Devin looked good today but that is because he was benched. Let him see if there is a market, only bring back if cheap.
Really they don’t have a lot of money tied into guys. Shaq has not produced much so they may cut him. JTS is not good enough for a big contract.
You raise good points. The other option that Tampa has to try and leverage Evans’ back and forth into an offer from another contender (or hopeful contender) via a sign and trade agreement. Evans is still good enough that a team would pay some price to eliminate other landing spots. The Jets spring to mind immediately, but there would certainly be others. The Chiefs lurked as a potential landing spot in the early season, and between Toney’s mistakes and unavailability, they seem to have decided that they’ll need to invest in an upgrade. The Bills have also made it clear that they’d like a second receiver to consistently take pressure off Diggs and Allen-the issue with them is that m, while not old, Diggs isn’t exactly young either and Buffalo would be heavily invested in two veteran pass catchers with other needs on the roster. It is getting close to all-in time for them, though, so they may decide to be aggressive next year in adding difference makers. Could Houston decide to add a big time veteran to help Stroud and the young corps of RAC receivers?
Basically, if the Bucs end up deciding that Evans simply wants too much, they should have a list of suitors who could be interested. Evans is older now, but he’s still at the stage where he could easily be the primary target on a team, or a second receiver who can play the X. If the Bucs decide to ultimately not commit to him, they could have several options to pull a sign and trade type deal, or slap the tag on Evans in preparation for such a deal. This latter approach would of course probably require Evans’ cooperation, so contending teams would likely be the targets. If he does choose to stay in Tampa, it makes sense to do as you suggest-stick with Mayfield, and draft a QB to hopefully take over in the next two or three years. Evan’s probably has that left in him, at least, and he’s not much less effective than he has been in his career.
Unless you franchise baker, you’re gonna have to sign him longer than 2 years. He’ll be the #1 FA QB likely on the market and some other team will give him a longer deal than 2 years. Bare min id guess 3/25-30mm like Geno got.
Name a team he will be the starter on though?
Raiders will be a new staff not stable organization.
Steelers are likely giving Pickett another shot.
Teams like Washington, Chicago, and Pats are drafting someone. He wouldn’t go to a team that drafted a guy top 10 as he knows that guy is eventually playing.
NYG already has Jones so he is there if they draft someone.
If AZ drafts someone that makes Murray going to one of those other teams. Fields may also go to one of those teams.
Titans may stick with Levis
Colts just drafted Richardson
Vikings are likely staying with Cousins, but if Cousins left they could pick Baker. He isn’t going there to compete with Cousins though.
ATL maybe but they should have a new staff and the young talent needs a QB around their age to grow with. They may trade up in the draft or settle on Fields.
He really does not have that many options. Jimmy G is likely going to be a FA again. Bucs are really his best situation as Trask was never the guy.
You have wayyyyyyyyyyyyy too many hypotheticals you think are just “facts”. Literally every team you mentioned could be a suitor for him. Just saying “may” doesn’t mean that’s what they’re going to do. Seahawks also have a potential out with Geno after this year. Long shot, but another option.
Murray won’t be easy to trade due to his bloated contract. In fact I’d say nearly impossible due to his work ethic, coming off injury, and dead cap amount.
Fields has looked like a bust so far. Baker has way more value than him. All fields can do is run.
He has tons of options and will be the top FA QB out there and is light years ahead of Jimmy G in terms of current value. I do agree the Bucs are his best option and he knows that as well. Him and his agent will point to the Geno deal and I’m guessing that’s what they go with.
They also know with the Bucs record they won’t be able to draft anyone even close to him so he remains the Bucs best option as well. (Caleb, maye and Daniels will all be lonnnnnng gone)
It’ll either be a 3 year (plus) deal or they’ll franchise him and let him play out another year….which I doubt he wants since he’s looking for stability.
You figure that Tampa would be contemplating whether or not they want Mayfield or Evans on the tag. It would appear that Mayfield would be the one to be replaced sooner by a draft pick, but by virtue of having Trask on the roster, the Bucs likely don’t want another young developmental prospect to avoid redundancy. If they pick a quarterback, it seems like he’d be a candidate to immediately. This is all purely speculative, but it seems to me that this may simply depend on who will fall to them in the draft. They’ll probably try to pick either Mayfield or Evans’ replacement, if someone is available to qualify for either of those positions. They’ve got two guys that they’re probably comfortable giving one or two year deals to, but that probably both want at least three year pacts. This is purely speculative of course, because I can see arguments positing either scenario with credence.
It seems that, they can’t agree on deals for both, the Bucs may be more comfortable tagging Evans and signing Mayfield. Evans is more tradeable, and the tag gives room for a trade after the draft.
They know how much Evans means to the fanbase, but regarding the tag I think it will only be for Winfield. He is a game changing defender that will rank high on almost every teams list. It is also his first payday so he may not care if the team is a winner.
Mike and Baker are going to be more selective, Mike not signing with a likely bad team say like Titans, Bears, Panthers, etc. He is either staying familiar or going to a top QB Chiefs, Bills, could consider home in Houston or Dallas. Baker knows he needs the best locker room situation. Bowles hasn’t had a quick hook for him and even in the blow out didn’t take him out. I do think the rookie QB Bucs would look at is Penix he was born in Tampa, Caneles may have seen him a lot when he was in Seattle. I don’t like Bo Nix but they may take him too, no way QBs are going the first 5 picks. If AZ stays with Murray, they are auctioning that pick.
Evans is Mr. Buccaneer — 2 TDs in the runaway win vs. Jacksonville — and Tampa Bay has to make sure he stays a Buccaneer.
On the opposite sideline Trevor Lawrence had to come out of the game with a shoulder injury and that’ll make the Jaguars’ fight for the AFC South a bit more difficult.
Ironically, the Jags would probably be happy to have him as another solid option for Lawrence as they hope to maintain their contender status in the long term. The question really is how satisfied they are with the Ridley deal. Ridley hadn’t been bad, but he also hasn’t been a consistent game breaker, either. He’s been solid, WIth just over 800 yards so far on the year, and 1000 within his reach. He’s not a showstopper, though, at least not right now. Several games he’ll be held to under 59 yards and only a few catches, and several others he’ll hit close to 100 or over. There are some extremes in his production. It seemed that Jacksonville wanted a true number one to be a go-to for Lawrence. Do the Jags think that Ridley improve and be that guy, or are they still looking for an upgrade? Obviously they thought so during the offseason last year-did Ridley change their minds, or are they still looking? I’d wager that they’d at least watch Evans closely if he became available.
Jacksonville has a young core that should be successful for a while, if all goes according to plan-it doesn’t feel like they’re wanting to simply push for a year or two and then give up. Having three or so years of Evans could be a boon to their offense, if they end up disappointed in Ridley. I never try to predict what Baalke is going to do, however, besides botching a first round pick.