Todd Bowles Reflects On Mike Evans Loss
March 30th, 2026
Yes, Joe is at the swanky Biltmore resort in Phoenix and finished multiple sitdowns with head coach Todd Bowles before and during the NFC Coaches Breakfast.
On the record, Bowles had various takes on Evans.
“He’s going to be missed and everybody should miss him.”
“I’ve seen a lot of great players change teams. Unfortunately, this one was one of ours. He’ll be remembered as the greatest offensive Buc.”
“We’ll miss him professionally; we’ll definitley miss him personally.”
“We’ve got guys that got to step in and play, and that’s what we’re going to do.”
You can’t replace a 6-5 receiver like Evans, Bowles said, though he added the Bucs have the talent to step up fill gaps and replace production. “Mike was an anomaly … Every team doesn’t have a 6-5 receiver,” Bowles added. “… We’re perfectly fine with 6-2 receivers, [Evans] was a luxury.”
Bowles added that third-year receiver Jalen McMillan often plays like a 6-5 receiver. “He doesn’t have a 6-5 frame, but he plays like he’s 6-5. And he had a very good catch radius,” Bowles said.
Bowles told Joe he wasn’t surprised professionally that Evans left but that was just about the job. “It always surprises you from a personal standpoint, it did,” Bowles said.
Joe asked Bowles if he had an exit meeting with Evans following the 2025 season.
Bowles said he and Evans did have their usual exit meeting and he had no “inkling one way or the other” that Evans would be leaving the Bucs during or immediately following that meeting.
Somewhere, the whole truth on Evans leaving the Bucs is out there.