TAMPA—You’ve heard this statement made a dozen times over by this point, if not more.
Mike Evans took a risk on himself last fall when he decided to end contract talks.
Now that the wager has finally settled, guess what?
You prevail!
Of course, Evans also prevailed. A guaranteed $35 million over two years, $52 million contract is a bigger step than any receiver in his 30s has ever received. In this case, the Bucs also prevailed because they signed a top player to a contract that was comparable to Davante Adams’, Cooper Kupp’s, or Stefon Diggs’ guaranteed income, but with much less guaranteed.
And for Bucs fans, this is also a lottery-style win—a franchise that not too long ago said goodbye to future Hall of Famers Warren Sapp and John Lynch. Not only is a legendary player from Tampa Bay continuing to play after yet another Pro Bowl campaign, the Bucs signed him to a contract that will allow the team some flexibility in the future.
Perhaps you believed that this was unavoidable. Perhaps you thought Evans was going to stay the entire time.
Evans would not have ended talks in training camp if that were the case. He was prepared to take a chance on an injury in order to become a free agent because he genuinely disagreed with the team’s position. Playing out a contract’s last year makes no sense unless you plan to test the waters.
That was presumably accomplished last week at the scouting combine through back channels. Evans found out the teams he was interested in were not being aggressive enough, or the money would be similar to what the Bucs were offering. Negotiations with the Bucs suddenly heated up, whatever the situation might be.
