Mike Evans’ Agent Starts Free Agency Sales Job With A Bang
February 8th, 2026
Two years ago Buccaneers great Mike Evans signed a new two-year contract and talked about wanting to be a “Buc for life.”
Buccaneers Ring of honor general manager Jason Licht was smiling in lockstep with his first-ever draft pick for Tampa Bay. “Buc for life” was the catch phrase of March 2024.
Well, life has now led Evans to the end of his contract. And Evans’ agent, Deryk Gilmore, is doing his best to let the world know Evans is still a healthy superstar.
Gilmore strategically timed a message to NFL Network today, one that was read on-air by reporter Mike Garafolo on the network pregame show.
Garafolo quoted Gilmore in what felt like a dramatic reading: “Mike [Evans] started the season in great shape. Most people in the organization said he probably had the best [training] camp of everyone. He finished feeling better than he has in several seasons. I think his competitive nature leads to more football. That is my hope. Like most fans, I love watching him play!”
(Garafolo emphasized that Gilmore used a lot of exclamation points in his communications.
So Evans wants back on the field; that seems beyond obvious.
Would Evans feel dissed if the Bucs don’t at least offer him the $23 million annually on a multi-year deal they are paying Chris Godwin?
Evans leaving Tampa Bay feels very hard to believe, but fans years ago could have said the exact same thing — with the exact same passion — about Jerry Rice, Julio Jones, Davante Adams and legends.
Joe hopes the Bucs do the right thing and quickly. Baker Mayfield is confident that’s exactly what will happen.
The free agency dinner bell rings March 9 and noon. The Bucs could slap the franchise tag on Evans as early as Feb. 17.
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February 8th, 2026 at 7:55 pm
Give Evans a 5-year deal. The guy is going to have at least 3 more 1000 yard season. Again, look at Terrell Owens, he’s the guy who last off-season I said Evans reminds me most of, and just like Evans, he also got hurt in his age 32 year, and he came back with 3 more monster seasons, followed by two 900-yardish seasons.
Stop the year-to-year nonsense, give Evans a long-term deal so he’s got a long-term goal.
If it doesn’t work out then who cares – the team will be rebuilding anyways in that case.
February 8th, 2026 at 7:56 pm
Bring him back! Deserves to be a Buc for as long as he wants
February 8th, 2026 at 8:01 pm
NE probably gets shut out.
February 8th, 2026 at 8:09 pm
Using the Jameis Winston ‘almost interception’ stat, how many ‘almost interceptions’ has Darnold thrown tonight? I think it’s 3 right now. Any ‘experts’ have a different number?
February 8th, 2026 at 8:14 pm
With Adams having such a big year there is no way Evans doesn’t play. I know he’s brought him up in the past and with Evans getting passed in TDs he’ll be back for a while.
February 8th, 2026 at 8:17 pm
How do we know mike is going to be motivated.
February 8th, 2026 at 8:20 pm
Offer him that exact contact, 3 years $66m. He’ll take it. We can just run 4 wide, air raid offense all day. Draft all defense and get some depth on OL. We got this
February 8th, 2026 at 8:35 pm
@ Rod Munch Says: “Give Evans a 5-year deal.”
Yeah, give him 10. Why not 20!? Hell, give him 30-YEARS!!!! It’s ABSURD. You’re allowing YOUR EMOTIONS to takeover. NO ONE else is giving him anything even CLOSE to 5-YEARS. So, that would make perfect sense then, for the Bucs to do it. In WHAT WORLD!? That’s just ridiculous. For a 33 year-old WR, who only played half a season last year, obviously has lost a step, and had 300-yards. There is absolutely NO REASON to lock yourself into that. Period. It would make ZERO sense to do it.
I’m not saying he can’t still be effective as a 3rd-Down ‘possession receiver’ and being used as a RedZone weapon. But, his best days are behind him. He was in HIS best shape last season going into the season, and you could still clearly see a drop off. He was not ‘moving’ anywhere near as well, as what he used to. He’s JUST NOT. And, it was obvious to see. It’s a negotiation, and NO ONE is giving him 5-YEARS. He’s not getting that ANYWHERE ELSE.
February 8th, 2026 at 8:40 pm
Let the market set his price. Either match it, or move on. Watching this SB right now it’s being won up front. Seattle’s DTs are dominating this game. Until we have that, having Evans back at any price won’t matter.
February 8th, 2026 at 8:47 pm
Who is calling the plays for New England. Looks like Grizzard ? lol.
February 8th, 2026 at 8:58 pm
Wow, the Seattle defense gave up 17.2 points per game. Amazing…
2002 Bucs defense gave up 12.2 points per game – and it didn’t need some stupid nickname. Only gimmick defenses need nicknames.
February 8th, 2026 at 9:01 pm
Hope Bowles is watching the Super Bowl defenses in Cabo.
February 8th, 2026 at 9:02 pm
Evans lost a step??? Sure he needs to do more yoga in the offseason and stretch that effing hamstring, but that falcons game where he was mossing that little boy CB should tell you all you need to know about Evans and his state of WR ability at his age.
February 8th, 2026 at 9:04 pm
MelvinJunior Says:
February 8th, 2026 at 8:35 pm
@ Rod Munch Says: “Give Evans a 5-year deal.”
Yeah, give him 10. Why not 20!? Hell, give him 30-YEARS!!!! It’s ABSURD. You’re allowing YOUR EMOTIONS to takeover.
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5-years takes him to 38.
He’s going to be elite for at least 3 more season.
If you haven’t noticed, the cap goes up an insane amount every year, meaning existing contracts are more valuable by the year.
Mike had his most dominate offseason of his career last year, hasn’t shown a single sign of slowing down – and is an ALL-TIME HOF talent. He’s also a guy who doesn’t rely on speed. He’s going to dominate for years. If the Bucs gave him 5years/$150M, that’s like $20M/year last year, and will be a deal even next year.
Who does Mike compare to? They’re Terrell Owens, Larry Fitzgerald. Other big guys who end up not playing well fall off pretty much the moment they turn 30 – normally because they rely on speed.
There’s literally no one on this site that knows more about football than me, and I said the last time the Bucs were going through this to sign up Mike to at least a 5-year deal – and they’d be in a much better place right now had they done so then since it would be a huge value contract.
February 8th, 2026 at 9:07 pm
I don’t think we can afford him. Also if we don’t invest on defense, expect more of the same next year with a potential rebuild the year after. Sucks that our ceiling is hoping we resign an aging (yes first ballot hof) wide receiver to continue his 1000 yard seasons, while passing up again on an experienced edge rusher, or corner, linebacker, etc. and fielding another 20th-30th overall defense 😩😩😩😩😩 it might be a while until we sniff the playoffs again, not trying to be negative, just realistic.
February 8th, 2026 at 9:11 pm
Why the hell did the NFL have the Bunny sing the entire halftime in SPANISH??? CUNYO!@!
February 8th, 2026 at 9:17 pm
His hamstrings are scarred
Sorry Mike … your cap space can bring in 2-3 starters
February 8th, 2026 at 9:19 pm
How the hell doesn’t every American know how to speak English and Spanish? I’m visiting Iceland this year and they speak English. They can speak English, but we can’t speak Spanish, the language of our neighbors to the south and fellow American Puerto Ricans?
February 8th, 2026 at 9:21 pm
As a reminder…
Patriots schedule:
Wk1: fired coach
Wk2: fired coach
Wk3: fired coach
Wk4: nfc south
Wk5: fired coach
Wk6: nfc south
Wk7: fired coach
Wk8: fired coach
Wk9: fired coach
Wk10: nfc south
Wk11: jets
Wk12: bengals
Wk13: fired HC
Wk15: fired HC
Wk16: fired HC
Wk17: jets
Wk18: fired HC
February 8th, 2026 at 9:29 pm
We could run that same play to Durham, but nooooooooooooo
February 8th, 2026 at 9:30 pm
Warren Brooks Lynch Says:
February 8th, 2026 at 9:29 pm
We could run that same play to Durham, but nooooooooooooo
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But Baker would miss him by 15 yards.