Report: Buccaneers won’t extend Mike Evans by deadline

Barring a miracle, don’t expect news to break on Saturday that Mike Evans has a multi-year extension done with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. According to Dianna Russini of The Athletic, the Buccaneers are going to let the deadline come and go without a deal for their all time leading receiver;

While this doesn’t necessarily mean the end of Evans’ tenure with the Bucs, it certainly isn’t going to mend any hurt feelings between the two sides. Evans is arguably the Bucs’ best offensive player of all time and will undoubtedly go into the Ring of Honor after his career is over. There’s also a case to be made for Evans to be enshrined in Canton one day.

For now, Evans will head into his tenth season with the team before potentially hitting free agency. I say potentially because there’s always the chance the Bucs get something hammered out before March - but a last ditch effort could always be the franchise tag, something they used on Chris Godwin just two years ago.

The Bucs are still paying their Brady-era debts and a lot of players are due some big money. You can argue that no one is more deserving than Evans of that money, but the Bucs could argue that he’s not getting any younger and they have to worry about the future in addition to the present.

Now, Bucs fans will have to hurry up and wait to see if one of the biggest fan favorites in franchise history will be back or if they’ll have to endure a repeat of guys like Warren Sapp or John Lynch that finished their careers in another uniform. Despite any hurt feelings, you’d have to believe that there’s enough desire to stay together to make things work, but as Evans said to the media on Thursday, the Bucs are going to do what they feel is best for the team while he does what is best for him.

Hopefully, those two paths intersect and Evans returns as a Buc for life.

For more on this and all things Tampa Bay Buccaneers, check out James Yarcho and David Harrison on the Locked On Bucs Podcast!