Buccaneers: A look at Mike Evans during the rest of the year

2020 has mostly been a year to forget for Mike Evans, who has still contributed on the field in a major way, but the stats haven’t lived up to expectations.

The pairing of Mike Evans and Tom Brady was supposed to be one of the most dominant pairings in the NFL. Evans is at the top of his group athletically and physically, and Brady is still one of the best quarterbacks in the league, even at this point in his career.

Mike Evans has done it all during his time in Tampa Bay. The WR1 for the Buccaneers has found success lined up across the field, against various top-tier corners, and played well despite numerous coaching and quarterback changes.

During his time with the Bucs, Evans has caught passes from five different starting quarterbacks and played under three different head coaches, yet the stats remained consistent until now.

While it looks like Evans should experience a career season with Tom Brady at quarterback and with Bruce Arians at the helm, Evans has gone in the opposite direction. Yes, teams are keying in on Evans as a much larger threat this season, but Brady and Evans have been on two different pages for most of the season.

This lack of chemistry has led to career lows in most categories for Evans, who still has a small shot of breaking the record set by Randy Moss for most consecutive seasons with over 1,000 receiving yards to start a career.

Evans will need to experience one of the best six-game stretches of his career if he hopes to stay on track for this record, but that starts with the play-calling and with Tom Brady.