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Cade Otton didn’t expect Mike Evans to escape.
Yesterday the Bucs had media availability with three guys who agreed to contracts during legal tampering. Just one was a returning player.
Bucs tight end Cade Otton is now a rich young man. And he had his wife and two children with him for the moment. And, yeah, you’d be smiling too if you were going to get paid $30 million.
One thing Otton was not smiling about was the departure of future Hall of Fame receiver Mike Evans. Otton was asked if he had a sense if Evans would leave or if he was stunned.
Yeah, Otton said, Evans’ exit caught him off guard.
> “Yeah, I was surprised,” Otton said. “I don’t know the Bucs without him.
>
> “I’m so thankful for the time I got to spend with him and just to learn from him. And you know, he’s an amazing person, amazing teammate, amazing player.
>
> “So, definitely sad he’s not here. I’ll be rooting for him personally until we end up playing 49ers.
>
> “But yeah, it was a surprise.”
Shortly before speaking of Evans, Otton was talking about the Bucs and the red zone offense and how that element of the Bucs’ offense must improve.
The sad thing about that is, their killer weapon in the red zone is now in San Francisco. So the challenge to get better is all the more steep now.