Buccaneers Wide Reciever Mike Evans Speaks on New Contract, Being a Buc for Life

Mike Evans held a press conference with general manager Jason Licht on staying with the Buccaneers and coming back to Tampa Bay before hitting free agency.

There were months of speculation and recruiting pitches from players all over the league, but the Tampa Bay Buccaneers made it official on Friday — franchise legend Michael Lynn Evans III isn't going anywhere.

Mike Evans held a press conference with general manager Jason Licht on Friday, and he made sure to reiterate that not only was he returning to Tampa Bay on a two-year, $52 million dollar deal, but that he intends to stay with the Bucs for the rest of his life. 

"Obviously, it's been well known that I wanted to be a Buc for my whole career," Evans said in his opening statement. "It's very rare to stay with a team for the entirety of your career, and that's something that was a goal of mine... Tampa, I love y'all."

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There was a lot Evans had to be thankful for (aside from the bag he just caught, of course). Evans mentioned the Glazer family, Tampa Bay's staff and the teammates who he's played with day in and day out with the organization. He said that while he did briefly flirt with the idea of playing for another football team, he always wanted to stay with the Buccaneers and he's very happy it's where he ended up in the end. 

"When you play for one team for so long, you obviously think about what it would be like playing for someone else," Evans said. "And I have a lot of friends on other teams. And it was a cool dream, but Tampa is my home, and it's where I've always wanted to be. We got a great deal — my agent got a great deal done with Jason — and I couldn't pass up on it. I'm looking forward to being a Buc for life." 

It wasn't the smoothest road to get there, though. Contract talks started before the 2023 season when Evans and his agent set a contract deadline before the beginning of the season for an extension. 

That deadline wasn't met, and Evans was frustrated — but he told reporters on Friday that he believed he went about that situation "the wrong way." Evans said that it stung a little bit at first after he had set expectations for a big extension at that point of the season, but he believes he hadn't taken the team's side into account as much as he should have during that early part of the year.

"I know the business of it," Evans said. "If they had the cap to do it, they would have obviously done it. But I know those things play a factor, and I didn't even take that into account at all."

That's all behind both parties now, though. Evans has the potential to make top-five wideout money if he hits all of his extensions, and the Bucs will get Evans back for at least 2024 and 2025 — right after he was the league's co-leader in receiving touchdowns in 2023 with 13. 

Of course, Evans had plenty of great things to say about the Tampa Bay community, mentioning that he didn't want to leave it after the relationships he had built. Evans thanked a lot of people during the press conference, but he made sure to shout out": one of the most important pieces of the puzzle when it comes to that community — the Bucs fans everywhere. 

"The fans have always shown love for me, even when I'm not playing well," Evans said. "They always have my back, and that drives me and motivates me to try to be a better player and a better man."

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You can follow River Wells on Twitter @riverhwells.

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