The Tampa Bay Buccaneers won’t let wide receiver Mike Evans become a free agent. Instead, both parties agreed on a two-year, $52 million contract extension after Evans’ fifth Pro Bowl season.
Evans was expected to become a free agent for the first time after the two sides failed to finalize a contract extension before February 19. That development added $7.4 million in dead money to the Buccaneers’ 2024 salary cap. Likewise, Evans was about to test free agency because he did not come to terms with Tampa Bay.
Before free agency begins next week, the Buccaneers and five-time Pro-Bowl WR Mike Evans reached agreement on a two-year, $52 million that includes $35 million guaranteed, per his agent @DerykGilmore.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) March 4, 2024
Evans now has a real chance to start and finish his career in Tampa as a Buc. pic.twitter.com/tj68Vk9YpG
Instead, the Buccaneers took one of the most consistent wide receivers in the game by agreeing to a deal worth $26 million annually, putting him fourth among wideouts behind Tyreek Hill, Davante Adams, and Cooper Kupp. Evans’ new contract comes with $35 million in guaranteed money and has the biggest annual average for a wide receiver on his third contract.
Evans wrapped up a 2023 NFL season wherein he completed his tenth consecutive 1,000-yard season. He’s the second wide receiver to achieve the feat after Pro Football Hall of Famer Jerry Rice. However, he is the first wide receiver to reach 1,000 receiving yards in each of his first ten seasons. Evans completed the 2023 season with 1,255 yards and a league-leading 13 touchdowns.
Aside from five Pro Bowl selections, the former Texas A&M standout is a two-time Second Team All-Pro and a part of the Buccaneers squad that won Super Bowl 55.
The Buccaneers selected Mike Evans seventh overall in the 2014 NFL Draft. He signed a four-year, $14.63 million rookie scale contract, and the Bucs exercised their $13.25 million fifth-year extension in 2017.
In March 2018, Evans signed a five-year, $82.5 million extension, which includes total guarantees worth $55.8 million and $38.2 million guaranteed at signing, according to Spotrac.
-Lance Fernandez