A timeline of the Mike Evans-Marshon Lattimore feud, and where things stand now

Throughout the history of the NFL, the league has seen several dynamic, nasty, and ruthless wide receiver and cornerback rivalries. Starting in the 1970's with Lynn Swann and George Atkinson going at it against one another, there have been plenty of notable battles between two players lined up outside.

In the early 90's, Hall of Famers Jerry Rice and Deion Sanders were the league's premiere WR-CB rivalry, arguably the greatest bout in NFL history. In the 20th century, the league has seen Michael Crabtree and Richard Sherman duke it out in the NFC West, and Antoino Brown and Dre Kirkpatrick go toe-to-toe in such a heated conflict that saw the downfall of both their careers.

Over the past seven seasons, a new WR-CB rivalry has run the NFL, one between Bucs' wide receiver Mike Evans and Saints' cornerback Marshon Lattimore. The rivalry between in 2017, when Evans was entering his fourth season and Lattimore was just a rookie.

A timeline of Mike Evans and Marshon Lattimore feuding over the years

November 5, 2017

In the 2017 season, Evans and Lattimore matched up for the first time on November 5, at the Caesars Superdome. Lattimore, for his part, did an excellent job in locking down Evans, holding the Pro Bowl receiver to one 13-yard catch on six targets in New Orleans' 30-10 win. The game didn't come without drama, however, as Lattimore instigated heavily with Jameis Winston, Tampa Bay's starting quarterback at the time.

Videos from the incident showed Winston shoving his finger into the back of Lattimore's helmet, who then retaliated by turning around and pushing Winston in the chest. Later in the game, Winston was forced to exit the game with shoulder soreness and was on the Bucs' sideline as Ryan Fitzpatrick took over.

Moments after knocking Winston out of the game, Evans hit Lattimore in the back and Bucs receiver and attempted to straddle Lattimore before Saints defensive back De'Vante Harris came to defend his teammate. Several Buccaneers players then separated Lattimore from the scrum.

The incident occurred in the third quarter with the Saints enjoying a 30-3 lead. Evans was called for unnecessary roughness, though neither he nor Lattimore were suspended for the incident.

September 13, 2020

While it would be over three years until the next major incident between Evans and Lattimore, it occurred in the first game of the 2020 season between the two teams. Once again, Lattimore locked down Evans on the field, as Evans caught one of four targets for a two-yard touchdown in the Saints' 34-23 win, per Sports Reference.

On a 3rd-and-two from New Orleans' 39 yard line, Brady threw a perfect pass to Evans who was on a streak, but Lattimore broke it up to force a Bucs' punt on their opening drive. After the play, Evans grabbed around the shoulder and neck of Lattimore before turning and walking away. 

Lattimore then pushed Evans in the back, causing him to stumble before whipping around and smacking the helmet right off Lattimore’s head. The rest of the teams came in to break it up and the referees called a 15-yard penalty on Lattimore, and nothing for Evans.

The two would exchange words and slander throughout the rest of the game, but there wasn't any more physical banter in the game. While it was a rough debut for Brady in a Bucs' uniform, Evans and the Crewe would go on to beat New Orleans two more times that season, including a 30-20 win in the NFC Divisional to jumpstart Tampa Bay's electric run to Super Bowl LV, defeating Kansas City 31-9.

September 18, 2022

While Evans didn't exactly dominate against Lattimore in this game, he did break free from the star corner, notching three catches for 61 yards, both enough to lead the Bucs to a 20-10 week-two win over the Saints in the Caesar's Superdome. Drama was still obvious in this game, one that spiraled over and had major implications later on.

With 5:31 left in the second quarter, Tom Brady handed the ball off to Leonard Fournette, and Evans blocked Lattimore on the outside, far away from the play. Both players became choppy and Lattimore shoved Evans after he turned around, in which Evans came back and knocked Lattimore's helmet off and began bleeding underneath his left eye. Lattimore was called for unsportsmanlike conduct on the play.

The next day, the NFL announced that Evans would be suspended one game without pay for his actions, while Lattimore was just ejected from the game. Lattimore wasn't suspended for New Orleans' week two game however, in spite of instigating the entire situation by shoving Fournette in the first place.

"All I seen was we were trying to get a flag called or whatever, and it wasn't called, and all I see is Lattimore, he like punched Lenny in the face or something like that and like, pushed Tom. That's all I saw. I just pushed him," Evans said.

Evan's one-game suspension did have an immediate impact for Tampa Bay in the following week, as Brady and the offense mustered a season-low 12 points in a two-point loss to Green Bay. That would later be the start of an early-season slump for the Bucs, who dropped five of their next six games after the week two loss to New Orleans, and snuck into the playoffs as the No. 4 seed because of the weak NFC South division.

Mike Evans-Marshon Lattimore Feud: Where do things stand now?

As far as on-field production goes, Lattimore has done a great job at limiting Evans. In his last seven regular-season meetings with New Orleans, Evans has averaged only 2.6 receptions for 45.4 receiving yards and two total touchdowns. Since the rivalry debuted in 2017, the Saints have managed to win nine of the 14 meetings with the Bucs, and have recently owned the team rivalry as a whole.

In terms of punishments goes, Evans was caught as the retailator in all three cases, and have sinced earned two one-game suspensions and more than $100,000 in fines from the NFL. Meanwhile, Lattimore's lone punishment was a $10,500 fine for unnecessary roughness in the Bucs' 20-10 win back in 2022.

This season, Tampa Bay will play New Orleans in week six and in week 18, with the latter likely holding playoff and division title implications. As long as Evans and Lattimore remain with their respective teams through the foreseeable future, their rivalry could rank among one of the best, most hostile, and vicious WR-CB duos the league has ever seen.

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