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By Megan Armstrong
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Pro Bowl wide receiver Mike Evans has accomplished everything possible during his 12 NFL seasons with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He checked off the ultimate team goal when the Tom Brady-led Bucs won Super Bowl LV in February 2021. Individually, he joined Jerry Rice as the only two receivers in league history to record 11-straight seasons with at least 1,000 receiving yards. Evans' 11-straight such campaigns are the most ever to begin an NFL career, to put a cherry on top.
The last thing remaining on Evans' Bucs bucket list is to only play in Tampa for the duration of his career, as he said when signing an extension in March 2024. The 32-year-old may or may not check that one off.
On Monday morning, NFL insider Jordan Schultz reported, "Sources: #Bucs legend Mike Evans is poised to become a free agent next hour, and interested teams have gotten the sense he’s serious about leaving Tampa Bay after 12 seasons."
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Around the same time, FOX Sports' Henry McKenna reported that Evans is "likely to have five teams in the hunt," including Tampa Bay.
In February, Deryk Gilmore, Evans' agent, told The Drive with TKras that Evans "basically wants to look at all 32 teams." After the 2026 NFL Combine in Indianapolis in late February, ESPN's Jeremy Fowler reported that Evans would "limit his choices to a handful of teams in part because of his criteria."
"He wants a quarterback he believes in, a chance at a Super Bowl, a top-shelf offensive coordinator, and the promise of high-volume touches," Fowler wrote.
"Only so many teams fit that mold. The Buccaneers will aggressively pursue re-signing Evans and met with his agent, Deryk Gilmore, on Thursday [Feb. 26]."
Evans is set to become an unrestricted free agent, which means teams can begin negotiating and agreeing to terms with him at noon EST on Monday. Any contract agreed upon with another team wouldn't be signed until the new league year begins on March 11 at 4 p.m. EST.
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