{"id":486701,"date":"2026-02-17T23:13:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-17T23:13:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/486701\/"},"modified":"2026-02-17T23:13:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-17T23:13:08","slug":"mike-evans-will-play-in-2026-but-return-to-buccaneers-is-uncertain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/486701\/","title":{"rendered":"Mike Evans Will Play in 2026, But Return to Buccaneers Is Uncertain"},"content":{"rendered":"<p id=\"inline-text-0\" class=\"mt-[18px] md:mt-0 mb-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6t\">Mike Evans is coming back.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-1\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6w\">According to ESPN\u2019s Kimberly Martin, the 32-year-old wide receiver is not retiring and will return to the NFL in 2026. He&#8217;ll do so, however, with a twist. Per his agents, Evans will explore free agency options and not necessarily sign back with the Buccaneers this offseason.<\/p>\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">WR Mike Evans WILL return in 2026. <\/p>\n<p>His agents Deryk Gilmore + Darren Jones tell me the future HOFer will play this upcoming season \u2014 and *will* explore his free agency options.<\/p>\n<p>One of the league\u2019s most consistent playmakers will be back \u2014 but we\u2019ll see if it\u2019ll be w\/ the <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/Bucs?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">#Bucs<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Kimberley A. Martin (@ByKimberleyA) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ByKimberleyA\/status\/2023872127854919778?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">February 17, 2026<\/a>RELATED: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/nfl\/free-agency\/10-best-wide-receivers-available\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">2026 NFL Free Agency: 10 Best Wide Receivers Available<\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-4\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"75\">Evans was drafted by Tampa Bay with the No. 7 pick in 2014 and went on to tally 11 consecutive 1,000-yard seasons to begin his career\u2014tied with NFL legend Jerry Rice for the most in NFL history. Unfortunately, a concussion and clavicle injury ended his 2025 season early, stopping his streak. <\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-5\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"78\">A two-time second-team All-Pro and a six-time Pro Bowler, Evans helped the Buccaneers win Super Bowl LV over the Chiefs in 2020. He&#8217;s signed two contract extensions with the team since his rookie contract expired in 2018\u2014including a two-year, $52 million pact in &#8217;24\u2014but will now potentially look elsewhere to cash in once again.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-6\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7b\">Evans will formally hit unrestricted free agency on March 11, the start of the NFL\u2019s 2026 new league year.<\/p>\n<p>More NFL on Sports Illustrated<script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mike Evans is coming back. According to ESPN\u2019s Kimberly Martin, the 32-year-old wide receiver is not retiring and&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":486702,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[559],"tags":[64,63,593,85],"class_list":["post-486701","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nfl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-nfl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/486701","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=486701"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/486701\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/486702"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=486701"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=486701"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=486701"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}