The Best Meet
May 15th, 2025
Legends Jerry Rice and Mike Evans link up.
There have been but two players in NFL history who have racked up 1,000 yards receiving in 11 straight seasons.
They’re perhaps the greatest to ever buckle a chin strap, Jerry Rice, and the greatest receiver in Bucs history, Mike Evans.
The two recently met.
In a (short) video the two cut for the Players’ Tribune, the two receivers talked shop. And Joe has to believe there is more, much more, to come. Joe cannot believe if someone got Evans and Rice to link up and chat, it had to be more than just a three-minute video. Otherwise, they could have just saved hundreds (thousands?) of dollars and just done a Zoom call.
Both receivers explained how they didn’t start playing football until high school. Evans started as a senior, Rice as a sophomore. Rice said he went out for football only because he got caught skipping class and his principal wanted him to play football.
The two talked shop and talked X’s and O’s using a digital version of a whiteboard.
“If we called a slant five yards, I felt like I could go 95 yards,” Rice said.
“And you did,” Evans responded.
Both explained how they would try to defend the other. Evans said he would demand his defensive coordinator “have a safety over top at all times” and try to get physical with Rice at the line.
Rice said if he tried to get physical with Evans that Evans would “pancake” him. “I would probably try to give you some space,” Rice said.
Pretty cool (short) video. More has to be coming. There sure seems to be a ton left on the cutting room floor.
May 15th, 2025 at 1:04 pm
Evans is better than Rice in my opinion.
Mike has done his damage with drastically inferior QBs than Rice had.
Except for Brady, the rest have been mediocre at best for the Bucs in Mike’s career.
He succeeds in spite of those around him not measuring up.
A true HOF WR first ballot.
May 15th, 2025 at 1:16 pm
Mayfield is far from INFERIOR and Brady did more to slow down Mike’s production than a guy like Winston who continually forced the ball to Mike no matter what. Brady’s dink and dunk game really didn’t mesh well with Mike’s vertical abilities.
May 15th, 2025 at 1:17 pm
Weak Secondary. Sorry, you’re wrong.
I absolutely love Mike Evan, but come on…
May 15th, 2025 at 1:22 pm
Slow your roll…Evans isn’t better than Rice was.
May 15th, 2025 at 1:23 pm
Same.
Mike is fantastic and a no-doubt Hall of Famer. But Rice’s superior? Nah, man.
And Joe’s pretty sure Evans would say the same thing.
May 15th, 2025 at 1:26 pm
I’m just curious what the two of them are holding in the picture.
May 15th, 2025 at 1:32 pm
Don’t take what I’m about to say too far as I believe Rice deserves recognition, records, hall of fame.
But, his use of stick-em really deserves to be looked into and how it’s impacted those records (and maybe wins?) . His legacy probably makes this untouchable but it definitely is worthy a legitimate review for the very least an asterisk.
How many yards, touchdowns would Evans or Terrell Owens (naming because he was famed for dropping passes) have if they got to use stick um?
What’s even more concerning is how did it impact games?
I think both Rice’s legacy and the downstream implications just has people looking the other way.
May 15th, 2025 at 1:32 pm
🫡🫡
May 15th, 2025 at 1:39 pm
After this yr, Evans stands alone. I hope he retires a Buc. His legacy unequaled in bucs’ history, no need to ruin it with an asterisk.
May 15th, 2025 at 1:46 pm
You also have to then factor in that, certainly in the early years of Rice’s career, receivers were allowed to get laid out regularly. Legally. Mishandle or drop a pass? BOOM!
If dudes tried that on Evans today, not only would there be flags flying like a Fourth of July parade, but dudes would be tossed from the game and likely suspended.
That alone probably cancels out whatever advantage Rice had with stickum.
May 15th, 2025 at 1:47 pm
At least Mike has finally had elite QB’s the past 5 years and for the rest of his Bucs career from the looks of it.
Yes, Mayfield is elite. Top-5 QB in the NFL.
May 15th, 2025 at 1:50 pm
I love love LOVE Mike.
But Rice is the greatest to ever do it, and it’s not particularly close. If you don’t think so, I have to question whether you actually saw Jerry Rice’s career.
Rice had amazing natural talent, though you could argue it was exceeded by Randy Moss’s and Calvin Johnson’s. But nobody, NOBODY, ever worked harder on his craft than Rice, and it showed up on Sundays. He played big, even though he wasn’t the biggest. He played strong, even if he wasn’t the strongest. He played blindingly fast, even though the stopwatch said he wasn’t a track guy. He looked the ball in every time. He ran beautiful routes. Also, until Warren Sapp yanked on his facemask in Rice’s THIRTEENTH season, he had never missed a single game. NOT ONE.
Again, I love Evans and it’s a personal joy to be able to root for him on Sundays, but there has never been a better wide receiver than Rice.
May 15th, 2025 at 1:50 pm
CleanHouse Says:
“Weak Secondary. Sorry, you’re wrong.
I absolutely love Mike Evan, but come on…”
Rice had Joe Montana in his prime. And Steve Young.
Winston just threw the ball to anyone out there, especially the other team.
May 15th, 2025 at 1:51 pm
Just WOW!
Our Mike Evans sitting in the same room as The Jerry Rice. Surreal.
Love to see Mike get in three more seasons and finish 3rd Rec Yards and 4th Rec TD.
May 15th, 2025 at 1:53 pm
Only if you’re going to review every single receiver in the last 15 years that wears those gloves that are 20 times tackier than stickum.
May 15th, 2025 at 1:53 pm
my childhood idol meets Mike “Man among Boys” Evans! I love it. That is my nickname for Mike and everyone in my family, neighborhood, and Bloomingdale High knows it cause I shout it every game day. For once though, I will call him Mike “Man among a man” Evans! Jerry is the GOAT. I did a biography on him in 6th grade (Joe Montana too) I just thought it was so cool reading that he fled from his principal and was then encouraged to join the football team. Also, learning how to catch bricks cause his dad was a masonry and bricks were expensive. Class act times 2. So proud to see ME13 and JR80 career as a fan. Words cannot describe. Who cares what they accomplished on the field. Look what each has done off it and you will see…Class Acts.
May 15th, 2025 at 2:01 pm
Coach Bowles, Mike said if he were defending Jerry he would “try to get physical with Rice at the line”. We know Coach that you were a Super Bowl winning defensive back in your Washington Redskins days. You know better than anyone that the corner can flog the receiver for 5 yards! Maybe the receiver pancakes the hyper aggressive corner, have a safety backing him up like Mike is saying. These guys are so quick nowadays it probably won’t work like I’m picturing it. But please coach, just let us see. Parrish is the kind of corner that he’ll mug most receivers for 3 seconds before that receiver can make it 5 yards. Great article Joe, there has to be more than 3 minutes, hope we can see more here if you find some more.
May 15th, 2025 at 2:05 pm
That was cool. Good share there.
No doubt there will be more content coming from that.
May 15th, 2025 at 2:07 pm
what would happen if both on the same team. rice in the slot, evans out wide. qb dream. how about 3000+ yds and 35+ td.
May 15th, 2025 at 2:32 pm
Brandon Says:
May 15th, 2025 at 1:16 pm
Mayfield is far from INFERIOR and Brady did more to slow down Mike’s production than a guy like Winston who continually forced the ball to Mike no matter what. Brady’s dink and dunk game really didn’t mesh well with Mike’s vertical abilities.
________
Absolutely agree.
May 15th, 2025 at 2:32 pm
Seeing the both of them together was awesome!
May 15th, 2025 at 2:32 pm
ChiBuc Says:
May 15th, 2025 at 1:39 pm
After this yr, Evans stands alone. I hope he retires a Buc. His legacy unequaled in bucs’ history, no need to ruin it with an asterisk.
——————————————————————————–
Mike already stands alone as the only receiver to have 1000 yards in the first 11 seasons of his NFL career.
May 15th, 2025 at 2:34 pm
Any QB that is in the league can throw a football or they would not be in it.
So to say this QB or that QB Blah Blah Blah is just speak from some kind of dumb.
Evans ran the routes and the QB delivered the ball. Simple.
Want an Honest assessment? Ask Mike.
First 10 seasons of Rice. 1570-15 TD, 1483-17 TD, 1502- 13TD’s. 1503- 15 TD, 1499-13 TD, and 1848-15 TD.
One season in 1st 10 missed 4 games, got 1048 and led the league with 22TD.
First 10 seasons led the league in TD’s 6 times.
13 Pro Bowls 10 All Pros SB MVP and Multiple MVP Awards.
Evans might crack top 10 by time it’s over but he’s a little behind at his quest for the top.
Fun to watch though.
May 15th, 2025 at 2:58 pm
You also have to then factor in that, certainly in the early years of Rice’s career, receivers were allowed to get laid out regularly. Legally. Mishandle or drop a pass? BOOM!
——
Agree to disagree. Rule changes of course impact records. But then what’s the point of keeping records.
When someone admits to breaking rules that were in place at the time, that does give an unfair advantage in their context and does impact the game of play.
I am not suggesting Evans is better than Evans nor is Rice is in the same category as Barry Bonds and needs to be pulled from Hall of Fame..
But, he did admit to cheating in a way to give himself an unfair advantage.
That does potentially warrant an asterisk and a look into how that impacted the games played.
May 15th, 2025 at 3:03 pm
Cool video. What a thrill for Mike Evans to hang out with – and get such major respect from Jerry Rice.
Anyone saying Evans is better than or even the equal of Jerry Rice obviously is too young to have seen Rice play.
Jerry Rice (first 11 years – 159 games started) – 942 receptions –
15,123 yards – 146 TDs
Mike Evans (first 11 years – 167 games started) – 836 receptions –
12,684 yards – 105 TDs
May 15th, 2025 at 3:28 pm
Jerry played til he was about FREAKING 42-gimme a break, of course he owns the record book!!!!!!!!! Mike still has a bunch of good years left , so any talk about who is the best needs to wait until ME13 hangs up his cleats , because the jury is still out on that……….. And to start applying cherry picked stat metrics to the comparison over 11 years does NOT off a valid comparison considering the level of play as a whole demonstrated by the 49ers over Rice first 11 years compared to the Bucs play during Evans first 11(49ers won 4 Super Bowls in the late 80,s). YPC is a very applicable metric and ME13 wins that one easily.
May 15th, 2025 at 3:47 pm
A lot of people need to check themselves and learn some history. Before Brady decided to go to about 20% of all the Super Bowls ever played… Jerry Rice was widely considered the greatest football player, not receiver, football player, to ever play. Evans shares a record with him and I love Mike, but he’s not close to being Jerry Rice.
Rice is easily the greatest receiver to ever play. It’s not close. Randy Moss‘s second. Anybody who watched Rice in the 80s and 90s knows that if he played today, when you can’t get destroyed going over the middle, not allowed to bump and run past 5 yards, not allowed to hand check like they used to… he’d probably have 4,000 more yards and 25+ more TDs.
All that said, this is cool as hell and I want to see Mike have 1200+ with another 10+ TDs!!
May 15th, 2025 at 3:53 pm
Also, the game is different today. You can’t complare the two careers on an apple to apples basis. Regardless, if someone thinks that Jerry isn’t the GOAT I don’t know what to tell you. Even Mike was calling him “Mr Rice”.
Thats not taking anything away from Mike Evans either. He’s my favorite Buc of all time. Maybe my favorite player of all time. Certainly top 5.
Regardless, even having this discussion is amazing.
May 15th, 2025 at 3:56 pm
That’s a really cool, well done video – needs to be a lot longer through.
May 15th, 2025 at 4:08 pm
First reaction: Pretty cool!
Rice was in a different era. It is hard for me to compare the two. Both made/make you go “Wow!” sometimes.
I will try to watch Mike more closely now that he is nearing the end of his prime. (Sports science is much more advanced today and this will surely help slow Mike’s decline.)
May 15th, 2025 at 4:08 pm
That is the second outstanding video you posted today! TYSM.
May 15th, 2025 at 4:12 pm
Stickum wasn’t banned because it aided the receiver. Spectacular catches sell tickets and advertising. And, gloves that aid the receiver are still legal.
Stickum was banned because it damaged the football.
In 1981, the NFL didn’t want to buy more footballs. It surely cost the NFL more in sales than it saved in the cost of replacement footballs. But, surely that is the only time that the NFL was penny wise and pound foolish. I mean, it’s not like the NFL would fail to have a full set of cameras covering the field like at the goal line.
May 15th, 2025 at 4:35 pm
It doesn’t take anything away from ME13 to say, Jerry Rice was better. The two top offensive players in NFL history are Jim Brown and Jerry Rice. Brown was the greatest to ever play. Rice probably second greatest.
May 15th, 2025 at 4:54 pm
It’s Jerry Rice my childhood favorite. Rice is still the goat of wideout due to superbowl wins and being an important part them winning. Mike Evan is great still.
May 15th, 2025 at 5:46 pm
That is like having Chamberlain and Russell talk shop….
May 15th, 2025 at 6:30 pm
Fan of the South Says:
May 15th, 2025 at 2:34 pm
Any QB that is in the league can throw a football or they would not be in it.
So to say this QB or that QB Blah Blah Blah is just speak from some kind of dumb.
Evans ran the routes and the QB delivered the ball. Simple.
Want an Honest assessment? Ask Mike.
First 10 seasons of Rice. 1570-15 TD, 1483-17 TD, 1502- 13TD’s. 1503- 15 TD, 1499-13 TD, and 1848-15 TD.
One season in 1st 10 missed 4 games, got 1048 and led the league with 22TD.
First 10 seasons led the league in TD’s 6 times.
13 Pro Bowls 10 All Pros SB MVP and Multiple MVP Awards.
Evans might crack top 10 by time it’s over but he’s a little behind at his quest for the top.
Fun to watch though.
_____________
I’ve said many times, ME barely cracked 1k for 2-3 seasons and don’t forget he’s played a 17 game season since that started.
ME is very, very good.
JR was Great.
May 15th, 2025 at 6:59 pm
That was awesome, would love to see / hear all the footage of them meeting and discussing the Xs and Os. And had a good laugh at how hard they kept forcing the Lincoln promos in there…
Would be awesome if Mike breaks the record himself at 12 straight 1k seasons, but we might just have too many mouths to feed this year if EE is the real deal.
May 15th, 2025 at 7:10 pm
it has been a pleasure to watch mike year after year a true great.
May 15th, 2025 at 7:26 pm
Both of those guys are in the discussion as the top receiver to ever play the game. However, Jerry Rice played with Joe Montana for 10 years or more and then Steve Young. You can argue that Mike Evans wasn’t quite as lucky until Tom Brady showed up. Along the way he played with famous Jameis and Fitzmajic among others. Now he has Baker Mayfield, who has been a very good QB in Tampa and probably the 2’nd best QB he has played with. One could argue that had Evans played with Joe Montana for a decade his numbers would be obscene.
May 15th, 2025 at 7:44 pm
Mike! :):):)
May 15th, 2025 at 8:01 pm
Great vid. Can’t wait to see more! Mike is epitome of greatness to represent the the Bucs forever in the HOF! Thanks Mike for all and let’s get that record this year for you to stand alone. From a Bucs fan from day 1! Bleed my Tampa Bay sports teams!
May 15th, 2025 at 8:59 pm
WeakSeconday, your theory and opinion are stand Joe BucsFan, ignorance. I saw Brady hit Evans for three 50+ yard bombs against the Panthers in his final regular season home Tampa Bay game. So much for dink and dunk. Bready only called his own plays during the final two minutes. Before that it was up to the football savant Lefty.
May 15th, 2025 at 9:00 pm
Lakeland Steve,
Please check ME’s stats during the Brady era and then make a new, informed post.
The TDs were there, the yardage was some of the lowest of his career.
May 15th, 2025 at 9:35 pm
Cool to see two of the best at their positions getting to meet and interact for a bit.
May 15th, 2025 at 10:12 pm
DoooshLaRue – hey moron, Mike has only played 17 games once, and never needed 17 games to get to 1000 yards.
Idiot.
May 15th, 2025 at 11:41 pm
Great vid / share Joe. My 2 cents on the discussion: Rice caught passes from Montana and Young For his early to mid career. Evans caught passes from Freeman and Winston and Mckown and Glennon for his early to mid career. Late career sure Evans had old Brady, but Rice had old Gannon- and that was a top 5 offense. Matter of fact he was always in a top 5 offense. That’s not even mentioning dragging Manzel to a first round pick. Just sayin.
May 16th, 2025 at 4:43 am
I cried like a father proud of his son. Mike is going to make it 12. What a champion, a good father, responsible, respectable, accountable. What an amazing accomplishment and most importantly what a fantastic human being. Go Bucs!! Jason Lichts first draft pick! He can puff out his chest for sure!!
May 16th, 2025 at 4:52 am
Rice was better than Evans period. No debate iys a fact. If you put them on a player draft Rice would be picked by all 32 teams first. Michael had ro have a miracle to get his 1000 yards against N.O. I believe this will be the best season of Evans career. Mike is elite. We are from. Tampa.and the big time analysts don’t go on t.v. and break his film down. If they did. They would see a Godzilla freak elite route running, elite hands and separation. Mike has it all. But Rice was the epitome of what every franchise is looking for. I saw him play as a child against the Cowgirls. I loved Jerry. Hes better
May 16th, 2025 at 6:47 am
Weak secondary must be a little child
May 16th, 2025 at 8:44 am
Mike and Jerry, my two favorites. They are different style of WRs so it’s hard to compare directly, but we all know Mike had some one-on-ones that were troublesome for him. Maybe it’s recency bias, but Jerry used his speed and precise route running to avoid being held in check by any one DB. Even Deion couldn’t hold Jerry down consistently. Jerry was elite. Mike is great and under-rated when talking about best WRs in the league. Jerry was never under-rated. He was him.
May 16th, 2025 at 8:56 am
Mike Evans is pretty good.
May 16th, 2025 at 10:26 am
Anyone saying that Brady inhibited Mike’s production is smoking really bad weed.
May 16th, 2025 at 10:41 am
Man, this article made me feel old.
Love ME – what I do not get is people today who think ME is better than Jerry Rice.
I guess some folks like the steaks at Golden Corral better than Bern’s.
If you think anyone playing today is better than Jerry Rice, then you probably weren’t watching football when Jerry Rice owned Sundays. He didn’t just play the game — he rewrote it. Every defensive coordinator in the league had one job: stop Jerry Rice — and they still couldn’t do it.
Jerry Rice wasn’t just better — he was different. Like, alien-species-different. The kind of player who made other greats look like they were waiting for the bus.
So unless your “all-time rankings” only have guys from the last 15 years, please sit down, and appreciate Jerry Rice who set the bar so high, they needed a drone to measure it.
May 16th, 2025 at 2:30 pm
Sapp was better than Rice. Just ask Jerry! He’ll tell ya. And those of us that were there that opening day in 96′ know too!
May 16th, 2025 at 6:21 pm
Rod Munch Says:
May 15th, 2025 at 10:12 pm
DoooshLaRue – hey moron, Mike has only played 17 games once, and never needed 17 games to get to 1000 yards.
Idiot.
__________
So……….injuries, huh genius?
May 16th, 2025 at 6:51 pm
In the 4 – 17 game seasons that ME has been a part of, he has most definitely needed 17 games to achieve his 1k, just not in the way you are “thinking” Munch.
Question;
After being out for what 3 games last year, he would not have made it to 1k had it not been for the 17th game.
He ended up with 4 yards more than he needed.