Reflection.
When Bucs AC/DC-loving general manager Jason Licht agreed to a sitdown with a handful of local reporters yesterday at One Buc Palace, he was generally in a chipper mood, as he often is.
That mood quickly turned sullen when Licht got down to the subject at hand: Licht had agreed to a sitdown to discuss the departure of the best offensive player the Bucs ever drafted, Licht’s very first draft pick Mike Evans.
Of course, Evans is off to San Francisco, despite how much he professed love for the Bucs and how much he admired (per Licht) the Bucs’ wide receiver corps and new offensive coordinator Zac Robinson.
Licht was peppered with all sorts of questions when he was asked, looking back at the drama, could he have done something different to keep Evans (other than slapping him with the franchise tag)?
Licht sounded like Evans had made up his mind and it was over, despite Licht admitting — in his first offer to Evans’ camp — that he made a “significantly” higher bid. Licht’s sales pitch was all for naught.
“No,” Licht said about doing something different to keep Evans in Tampa Bay. “I feel like we did everything we could.
“I had a lot of talks with Mike about that. He and I have a very good relationship. When a player has reached his level for as long as he has, you tend to have deeper discussions with those players.
“There was basically nothing we could have done differently. I feel strongly about that.”
This is just weird to Joe. Maybe because Joe is trying to apply logic to something that is emotional. As the great Sage of Tampa Bay sports, Ira Kaufman is famous for saying, “Who turns down money?”
Mike Evans, apparently. He took a multi-million dollar haircut to play for a lesser team (the Bucs beat the 49ers last year without Evans) in a 13.3 percent income tax state (based on Evans’ salary). He left a team he claimed to love and stated how impressed he was with the wide receiver room.
Logically, this just doesn’t add up for Joe. Something chased Evans away from Tampa Bay and/or lured him to San Francisco.
And no, Joe doesn’t believe Evans made this move just so he could sleep on a bed on a plane eight times this fall.
Joe wonders how that absurd road schedule the 49ers have this year will work with Evans’ old hamstrings?