Mike Evans Still Has It
September 9th, 2025
Film shows he still has the feet.
In NFL terms, Mike Evans is close to packing up his belongings and preparing for a new life at The Villages.
Evans is a senior citizen in the football world after 11 full seasons. There are few top-shelf receivers who are 32 years old and counting and still making plays.
That was the case Sunday in Atlanta. Did Evans look washed in any way to you? Looked like the same ol’ Mike Evans to Joe.
Ever since he was drafted in 2014, Joe thought Evans had elite footwork. Maybe the best footwork Joe has seen from a receiver since Cris Carter. It’s no less than exceptional around the sidelines.
But Evans can still use his feet to get open. On Sunday, Dixie Chicks corner Mike Hughes had a rough day. He was burned by Emeka Egbuka on two touchdown catches. And Evans wasn’t feeling sorry either for the Central Florida defensive back. A website that goes by the handle of “Receiver School” showed how Evans worked Hughes with his feet so badly that Hughes was rocking back on his heels.
The little stutter step Evans gave Hughes opened plenty up space to haul in a Baker Mayfield pass.
So yeah, Evans still has it. And his feet are a big reason why he’s still feared.
.@MikeEvans13_ footwork at the top of the out route puts the DB in a blender 🌪️
Tic-tac-toe, 3 in a row (rocker-steps) pic.twitter.com/0PwnC9MBd6
— Receiver School (@ReceiverSchool) September 8, 2025
September 9th, 2025 at 9:03 am
@Joe Did you notice Justin Skule starting at left tackle for the Vikings last night? Just thought it was interesting considering our current Oline situation
September 9th, 2025 at 9:05 am
Beautiful!!! He spun that man all the way around. I’ll call that the “Rinse Cycle” wow!
September 9th, 2025 at 9:06 am
Not sure what these comments have to do with ME13. He’s incredible, thanks for sharing!
September 9th, 2025 at 9:15 am
First two commenters disrespecting Evans by leaving such unrelated comments here.
September 9th, 2025 at 9:19 am
I doubt Evans is a Villages kind of guy! Just saying.
September 9th, 2025 at 9:21 am
Showing his moves in that video is a beautiful thing!
September 9th, 2025 at 9:21 am
Just the idea of Mike, Chris and Emeka all on the field at the same time.
September 9th, 2025 at 9:29 am
MIKE ELITE!!!!!!
BUCS GOAT!!!!!!
GO BUCS!!!!
September 9th, 2025 at 9:29 am
eh, wasn’t disrespecting Mike. I think we all know he still has it so I thought I’d bring up something more interesting
September 9th, 2025 at 9:53 am
Mike will eat this year with EE on the other side. I expect EE to ball in the next couple games with teams doubling Mike. Teams will get away from doubling Mike so much and Mike will dominate.
September 9th, 2025 at 10:53 am
Mike is continually awesome and looks even healthier each season. He’s our heart and soul on the Bucs.
September 9th, 2025 at 11:03 am
No. Joe was cutting a podcast and then had stories to type. So didn’t see the game (less Bears games, the better for one’s mental health).
And Joe isn’t sure why you are asking a Vikings question or an offensive line question in a Mike Evans post.
Heard weeks ago Skule had a chance to start. Happy for him. He’s a really good dude. As Joe typed months ago, the Bucs will feel his loss. Think they already are.
(If you are wondering why Joe typed that last sentence, Joe’s archives are available to all for free!)
September 9th, 2025 at 11:10 am
They have a Hooters now!
September 9th, 2025 at 11:10 am
i gotta stop reading the first comment it’s always that idiot troll jack meoff sounding like someone who has no clue waiting for every new post so he can spew… go away dude! the defense is better than last year and we will beat the texans bc cj stroud is playing so bad and throwing picks. reddick gets two sacks monday night
September 9th, 2025 at 11:11 am
skule looked bad getting beat by the bears d line i’m glad he’s gone he looked clueless
September 9th, 2025 at 11:57 am
Are you kidding, Joe? ME13 and EE2 were getting bored frolicking around in the first half while Bake and the OLine were getting their act together. Big Mike’s hammy is 100% healed. I’m sure he was high-fiving when Egbuka got drafted, and his bud Chris came back. Just look at that video. I bet DCs on opposing teams are starting to get ulcers seeing that performance outta Big Mike. Who was the receiver breaking in the middle? He was pretty smooth, too. Just wait until Godwin and McMillan come back. ME13 is a Galveston boy. He won’t waste his golden years in a dump like the Villages.
September 9th, 2025 at 12:31 pm
2 year extension please! Come on Mike. Come on Jason.
September 9th, 2025 at 12:32 pm
I don’t buy the narrative that Mike is slowing down at all, he honestly looks like he’s still prime Mike with several more seasons ahead.
We all like to talk about him breaking the Rice streak this season of 12 consecutive seasons with 1k yards, but we rarely look at the bigger record, which Rice also owns – total 1k seasons, which is at 14. I don’t see any reason that Mike can’t tie, or even break, that record as well. This season, plus 3 more after, gets it done. That also just so happens to coincidence with the current SB window, and also when all of these core player contracts are set to run through. I don’t believe these contract structures we’ve seen are a coincidence to that timing. They’ve said it before – everything runs through Big Mike.
How cool would that be to see him go 15 for 15, his entire playing career, and end up #2-3 in every statistical receiving category? Guaranteed both he, and the organization, have considered it.
September 9th, 2025 at 12:50 pm
Hey Joe man, why did my post get declined? Just curious. It was just giving props to Mike and looking at the next few years for him and his career accomplishments.
September 9th, 2025 at 12:56 pm
Disregard ☝️
September 9th, 2025 at 1:04 pm
Never suggested he was slowing down. If anything, Joe was praising an old man like Evans for not slowing down.
Joe repeatedly typed this summer how Evans may have had his best training camp.
September 9th, 2025 at 1:11 pm
Let’s not get down on the defense and offense, yet. It was Game 1. This team (and every team) will look a lot different after 2-3 games.
WHAT I LOVE …
1. Yaya will get sacks. He should of had 2. He’s ready!
2. Vea is a wrecking ball.
3. DBs look really good. AWJ back to his All Pro-self.
4. Egbuka. He is him.
WHAT I EXPECT TO IMPROVE …
1. Kancey added nothing. He went against an all pro OG.
2. Baker should had 2 dropped INT. It was his first game.
3. Run game SUCKED. Not our normal starting line.
WHAT I’M READY TO CAN …
1. Braz. He’s our new JTS.
2. Bucky the Only RB. Seriously? Bucky all game. Mix in Tucker. Forget White.
September 9th, 2025 at 1:20 pm
@Joe, that comment wasn’t directed at you, but rather at the BSPN and alleged draft guru pundits. We all know you’re the true voice of Bucs fans, especially when it comes to Mike. Appreciate all you guys do! 🍻
September 9th, 2025 at 1:22 pm
Jack Meoff….you picked atl to blow them out too.
Go away with your foolishness.
September 9th, 2025 at 1:28 pm
BucYou:
Thank you! 👍
September 9th, 2025 at 1:52 pm
Snap counts can tell you a whole bunch about how important a player is to the offense or defense IMO. For instance …
o On offense, all 5 Bucs’ OLinemen got 58 snaps (100%), as did Baker Mayfield of course. But beyond that, Egbuka for 54 snaps (93%), Otton for 50 snaps (86%) and Evans got 48 snaps (83%). That’s 9 out of 11 starters who were on the field A BUNCH, running routes & blocking.
But then going down a little from those 9, you see 2 other offensive guys who got a LOT of snaps: Bucky got 44 snaps (76%) and Shep got 37 snaps (64%). BTW, for those who want to run White off, he had 2 carries for 14 yards (7.0 YPC). Tucker had 1 carry for 2 yards (2.0 YPC). Bucky had 14 carries for 37 yards (2.6 YPC).
o On defense, we did much the same thing (starters got the vast preponderance of def snaps). Our starting Secondary got the lion’s share: McCollum, Dean, Winfield & Tykee Smith each got 74 snaps (97%), while our Nickel (Parrish) got 55 snaps (72%). Our old-timer LVD was the only defender to log all 76 def snaps (100%), although SVD came close with 72 snaps (95%).
The big guys upfront got a lot of snaps too. Reddick led the pack there with 60 snaps (79%), while Diaby logged 56 snaps (74%). Vea really impressed me (due to having a bad foot last week?) by putting in 54 snaps (71%), the same as Kancey. Logan Hall was the only other defender over 50% with 39 snaps (51%).
Good thing our starters stayed healthy. We only used 7 other offensive players & 6 other defensive plays (not counting S/Ts snaps). And there-in lies the key to our season: STAY HEALTHY.
September 9th, 2025 at 2:02 pm
OMG – the Atlanta DBs are playing 8 yards ‘off’…. Rah should be fired for telling them to do that… (sarc font)
September 9th, 2025 at 2:13 pm
@DR, great insight, excellent post as always.
Let’s look a little deeper. What does that tell us? What can we infer from that data sample you provided?
September 9th, 2025 at 2:18 pm
You’re out of your mind if you think the Bucs defense was bad. Holding a team to 20 points in today’s NFL is like holding a team to 13 points 25 years ago. The defense was great. Don’t be one of those knuckle-dragging mouth breathers who think yards = points.
September 9th, 2025 at 3:01 pm
If it weren’t for the two roughing calls (one bogus, one questionable imo) the Bucs would have held Falcons to 13 pts and just two field goals after the opening drive. The Falcons offense is supposed to be very good, if not elite.
September 9th, 2025 at 3:55 pm
Don’t overlook the fact that on the TD to win the game, the Falcons ended up with three players covering Evans, giving Double E one-on-one coverage, and the chance to make the big catch. Anyone dumb enough to think Evans isn’t the alpha, well they’re the same dipsticks last year saying Godwin had passed Evans – just not smart individuals who make dumb statements after reading the box score.
September 9th, 2025 at 4:18 pm
BucYou … Snaps on either side of the ball tell me how important a particular player is to our offense or defense. IMO when a guy plays ov er 70-75% of the snaps in the game, he’s important (well, or the only one still available).
In Sunday’s game, Bucs had 10 players on offense (all starters) log over 70% snaps. We also had 9 players on defense (again, all starters) log over 70% snaps. Kinda implies to me that IF we can keep our starters healthy & on the field, we can play with just about anyone.
Yes we only gave up 20 points, but we’ve got some improving to do, on both offense & defense. I wasn’t impressed by our near total lack of a pass rush on Penix. I wasn’t overly impressed with what I saw from SVD on several critical plays, although in all fairness he did have several good plays IMO. I also wasn’t impressed with Dean, but mostly because he had TWO costly penalties (a 15-yard facemask penalty and the 4th down defensive holding call that let Atlanta replay that down & score a TD to go ahead after we’d stopped them. Could’ve been VERY costly if not for Egbuka’s TD 1 minute later.
September 9th, 2025 at 4:26 pm
Rod … Mike’s stats on the day won’t get him to 1,000 yards on the season (5-for-8 for 51 yards), but for the 1st game it was a respectable start. Baker threw deep to him TWICE, but they didn’t connect on either one of them. Got a hunch though that got Atlanta’s attention, and so they probably doubled coverage most of the time. Egbuka & Shep benefitted.
September 9th, 2025 at 5:43 pm
@DR – it tells me a bit of a different story.
It tells me that the coaching staff and analytics team believe in the starters, but not the backups.
I’d be curious to see the splits from the two SB runs when the starters were all A/B players, and the backups were largely B/C players.
This season, I see the starters as A/B players, but the backups as C/D players. Very little confidence in the depth, especially on the defense as a whole, and the OL only on offense.
If the team avoids any major rash of injuries to the starters, this could be SB #3. Any key injuries, and we’re toast. See: SF and DET the last two seasons (and this season now as a result of their closing windows).
September 9th, 2025 at 5:52 pm
@DR also, look at the total plays splits between offense and defense. If we know the team has an overall A offense with a C defense, the key to winning games should be around a 55/45% split, if not more leaning towards the offense.
You’re on the right track with your data samples and analysis of the output, but that last part is what you should be monitoring. The team needs to keep the ball in the offense’s hand. Turnovers help that cause (ballhawks comment ring a bell?).
This is an offensive team, and it needs to remain offensive heavy. Ironic considering the coach is the most defensive heavy mind in the game. Todd is coming around though. Remember his comments during the draft process about the offense needing to score points? He knows where his strengths and weaknesses are from a roster standpoint.
They tell us everything we need to know if we pay close attention.