After his performance last week against the Arizona Cardinals, Buccaneers wide receiver Mike Evans has hit 7,000 receiving yards, the youngest to do so.
Wide receiver Mike Evans became the youngest NFL player to ever reach 7,000 receiving yards against the Cardinals last Sunday. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers got a good one with their first round pick back in 2014, and he deserves better than the Bucs have given him.
Ironically, Evans broke career Cardinal Larry Fitzgerald’s record of 26 years old and 111 days by 30 days. Third and fourth on the list are DeAndre Hopkins and Randy Moss. In other words, he’s in good company.
Evans has 924 yards receiving through just nine games in 2019, meaning that he’s headed toward his sixth straight season of more than 1,000 yards receiving. He’s never had a season with less than 1,000 yards. He’s also only one touchdown away from tieing the nine touchdowns he recorded in 2018.
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Evans is by far the cornerstone of Tampa Bay’s offense. Having Chris Godwin’s help the past few years hasn’t reduced his numbers; in fact, Evans recorded a career-high 1,524 receiving yards in last year.
On a team that’s struggled heavily in recent years, Evans is one of the few bright spots, consistently putting up Pro Bowl numbers and lighting up defenses.
His quarterback Jameis Winston has been inconsistent to say the least, but he’s had no trouble putting up passing yards. This has allowed Mike Evans to continue to be productive even in seasons where wins are few and far between.
Evans has only missed three games in the past six seasons.
With the quality of the teams that he’s been on, it’s interesting that he has had such success over the years.
Mike Evans was briefly the subject of trade rumors before the deadline, namely that the Eagles were considering trading Nelson Agholor and a bundle of picks for him. For a day or two, there was speculation of what a possible Evans trade would mean for the franchise.
Luckily, the rumors were nothing more than, well, rumors.
As spotty as Jameis Winston is, he throws the ball a lot and racks up a lot of yards every year, and Mike Evans is the biggest catalyst of the success that he’s had in his career.
However, Evans’ rookie year was a mess. He caught passes from two quarterbacks, Mike Glennon and Josh McCown, neither of which were consistent in their play.
The fact of the matter is this; Mike Evans is far and away the best wide receiver the Buccaneers have ever had. His value to the franchise and to the Tampa Bay community cannot be understated.
Here’s to another 7,000 yards.