WR Mike Evans to meet with Buccaneers ahead of free agencyplayWhat’s the best landing spot for Mike Evans? (1:09)Sam Acho lays out the best destinations for Mike Evans after the receiver declared he will return in 2026. (1:09)Jenna LaineFeb 21, 2026, 06:00 AM ETClose
Jenna Laine covers the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for ESPN. She started covering the Bucs for ESPN in 2016, but she has covered the team since 2009. Jenna is a former cheerleader at the University of South Florida and speaks to the consistency of the program as being one of the top best in the nation.
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TAMPA, Fla. — Tampa Bay Buccaneers wide receiver Jalen McMillan was enduring one of the lowest and loneliest points of his life — recovering from three broken vertebrae in his neck that he suffered during a preseason game after a promising rookie season — when Mike Evans, the Bucs’ all-time leading scorer, gave him a much-needed boost.
“I think he helped me understand my worth as a receiver, and he was able to teach me that it’s OK to make mistakes,” McMillan reported. “The big thing really is how good of a receiver I am — speaking it into me, just encouraging me.”
Evans landed alongside McMillan on injured reserve after he suffered a broken collarbone in Week 7. Neither returned until Week 15, which made for a lot of deep conversation between the veteran and 2024 third-round draft pick.
But it wasn’t that McMillan didn’t believe in himself after the devastating injury.
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“No, I did,” McMillan reported. “But when it comes to Mike Evans, you kind of just feel different about yourself.”
That’s the impact that No. 13 has had and why general manager Jason Licht and coach Todd Bowles hope that Evans will never wear another team’s uniform.
“He’s an unprecedented player,” Licht reported in 2024. “We want him to be a Buc for life.”
Evans has reported that he wants to be a “Buc for life,” but when his agent, Deryk Gilmore, told ESPN this week that Evans would be playing football in 2026, the message was that he would be exploring his options in free agency.
That does not mean Evans won’t be back in Tampa, but there’s a process that needs to occur.
Gilmore called the Bucs to let them know that Evans would not be retiring, and Gilmore reported he’d sit down with them in the coming weeks to see what a deal might look like.
Could the Bucs franchise tag Evans? Technically, yes, but the feeling inside the organization is that Evans has given 12 seasons to the team, and he deserves to have agency over where he spends the remaining years of his career. They also have to weigh whether the move would make sense financially, considering they’d have to pay him $27-28 million for one year when he was averaging $20.5 million on his last deal.
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Louis Riddick and Booger McFarland react to Mike Evans playing in 2026 and being set to be a free agent.
Also, Evans is coming off a season when he had lows in catches (30), yards (368) and games played (8).
But they know what he means to the franchise. Bowles reported that Evans eclipsing 1,000 receiving yards for a record-setting 11th straight season in the 2024 finale was one of the best moments he has been part of in football.
“That fire — it just demands everybody to raise their standards,” quarterback Baker Mayfield reported of Evans. “We love that Mike is vocal about it. He obviously expects greatness out of himself and expects people to rise to the occasion as well.”
Before the 2023 season, Evans, who was entering the final year of his deal, told the franchise that he would not negotiate during the season if an extension wasn’t done.
Things could have soured, but instead, Evans re-signed on a two-year, $52 million deal, with $35 million guaranteed before hitting free agency. Both sides felt like it was a fair deal, and the next season, he tied Jerry Rice for the most consecutive 1,000-yard seasons.
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Evans, who will turn 33 in August, wants to make an informed decision and see what other teams are offering. He is recovering from his first broken bone and surgery of his career in a season when he missed nine games after missing 12 total games in the previous 11 seasons — so he recognizes where he is in his career.
That recognition led him to drop hints about retirement.
“When I leave this game soon, I’m going to be happy with the receiving room that’s left in Tampa and excited to watch them have a great career and carry on the torch,” he reported in December after the Bucs lost to the Atlanta Falcons in Week 15.
When asked what he meant by “soon,” he reported, “It will be soon — even if it’s three, four more years I play. I played 12, so we’ll see. Time will tell.”
Evans was visibly emotional after Tampa Bay blew a 14-point lead in the fourth quarter against the Falcons. He had 132 receiving yards but left the field slamming his helmet into a wall inside the tunnel.
Not making the playoffs was very difficult for him, too. After not making the playoffs until 2020, when the Bucs won the Super Bowl, Tampa Bay’s streak of five straight postseason appearances ended last season.
That kind of success has left him wanting to hear the team’s plans for 2026.
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Bowles overhauled a significant portion of the staff — including firing offensive coordinator Josh Grizzard and hiring former Falcons offensive coordinator Zac Robinson to replace him. The move could appeal to Evans, considering that Robinson worked with Tampa Bay’s previous offensive coordinator, Liam Coen, who kept finding ways to scheme Evans open.
Also, Evans’ position coach, Bryan McLendon, is one of the few Bucs assistants who was retained by Bowles.
Evans also likes the makeup of the locker room. Evans has reported that Mayfield was a huge reason he returned after the 2023 season. Mayfield’s skill set and the way he ignited the locker room appealed to Evans.
Evans also genuinely loves the Bucs’ receiving corps, whom McLendon described this past year as “guys that truly want one another to go out there and do well, regardless of who that is.”
“As a wide receiver unit, we’re all pretty much best friends in the locker room and in our receiver room,” Emeka Egbuka reported.
Family is a key component as well. Evans’ wife, Ashli, ultimately convinced him to stay in Tampa in 2024.
“[She reported] ‘Maybe we should stay in Tampa,’ And I was like, ‘I want to be in Tampa. And they offered me great money,'” Evans reported. “It wasn’t even about the money — I just I wanted to see everything as a whole.”
There’s no telling if that will be a deciding factor again, but Tampa Bay has until March 9 before teams can legally begin negotiating with Evans ahead of the March 11 official start to free agency.
