The Tampa Bay Buccaneers were dealt a tough blow to begin the offseason, as they lost their record-breaking receiver to the San Francisco 49ers (during the 2020 season, he passed Randy Moss for the most consecutive seasons with 1,000 receiving yards).
“The San Francisco 49ers today announced they have signed WR Mike Evans to a three-year deal,” the franchise stated last Thursday.
To make matters even worse, ESPN’s Jenna Laine recently reported that the Buccaneers were interested in bringing Evans back, but failed to do so despite making a 'significantly higher offer' than the 49ers.
“We made a significantly higher offer (than the 49ers), and that was just the first offer,” Buccaneers general manager Jason Licht said Wednesday, according to Laine. "I feel like we did everything we could."
Tampa Bay can’t blame Evans for wanting to join a legitimate Super Bowl contender in his early 30s. The Texas A&M product won a title with the then-Tom Brady-Buccaneers in 2020-21, but things have gotten stale since.
Most recently, Tampa Bay finished 8-9 after an impressive 6-2 start to the year (lost four of their last five games) and shockingly missed the postseason.
If the Buccaneers wanted to convince Evans to stick around a little longer in Tampa Bay, it would have been best for them to finish the year on a positive note. Instead, the NFC South franchise collapsed down the stretch of the season, and it wound up costing them in free agency.
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