{"id":159137,"date":"2026-02-18T00:46:12","date_gmt":"2026-02-18T00:46:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/159137\/"},"modified":"2026-02-18T00:46:12","modified_gmt":"2026-02-18T00:46:12","slug":"tampa-bay-buccaneers-mike-evans-clears-up-status-for-2026-reports","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/159137\/","title":{"rendered":"Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ Mike Evans clears up status for 2026 | Reports"},"content":{"rendered":"

The 2025 NFL season is officially in the rear-view.<\/p>\n

A season capped off by the Seattle Seahawks<\/a> winning Super Bowl 60 over the New England Patriots<\/a> saw many streaks come to an end. The Kansas City Chiefs<\/a> didn’t win the AFC West for the first time in a decade. Baltimore<\/a> missed the playoffs and parted ways with coach John Harbaugh after 18 years. The team that knocked them out of contention – Pittsburgh<\/a> – has a new coach in 2026 for the first time since 2007 after Mike Tomlin stepped down.<\/p>\n

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On an individual level, one of the more remarkable streaks came to an end. For the first time in his 12-year career, wide receiver Mike Evans<\/a> did not reach 1,000 receiving yards. An injury-marred season limited him to 368 yards in just eight games.<\/p>\n

He’s not done yet, though.<\/p>\n

Evans will return in 2026 for a 13th season, per multiple<\/a> reports<\/a>. He turns 33 years old in August and will be a free agent this offseason.<\/p>\n

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers<\/a> selected Evans No. 7 overall in the 2014 NFL Draft. He’s spent the entirety of his 12-year career with the Buccaneers<\/a>. Those 12 years featured two second-team All-Pro awards and six Pro Bowl honors.<\/p>\n

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Evans suffered hamstring and clavicle injuries as well as a concussion in 2025, which kept him out for nine out of 17 games. He’d tied Hall of Fame wide receiver Jerry Rice for the most 1,000-yard receiving seasons in a row with 11 entering the 2025 season, but the injuries meant he would not break that long-standing record.<\/p>\n

Evans will test free agency for the first time in his career this offseason. Tampa Bay may end up bringing him back; the franchise has $23.9 million in cap space, per OverTheCap<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But the team has young talent at the position in Emeka Egbuka<\/a>, Jalen McMillan<\/a>, and Tez Johnson<\/a> as well as veteran Chris Godwin<\/a> and could decide to spend that money elsewhere.<\/p>\n

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Mike Evans career stats<\/p>\n

Here’s how Evans ranks all-time in receiving statistics:<\/p>\n

Receiving yards: 13,052 (21st)<\/p>\n

Receiving touchdowns: 108 (10th)<\/p>\n

Scrimmage yards: 13,062 (51st)<\/p>\n

1 \/ 4<\/p>\n

Best images of the 2025 NFL season<\/p>\n

Week 1: Detroit Lions wide receiver Isaac TeSlaa (18) makes a catch for a touchdown<\/a> against the Green Bay Packers during the fourth quarter at Lambeau Field. The play was originally ruled an incomplete pass, but the call was overturned. Despite TeSlaa’s effort, the Packers won the game 27-13.<\/p>\n

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1 \/ 4<\/p>\n

Best images of the 2025 NFL season<\/p>\n

Week 1: Detroit Lions wide receiver Isaac TeSlaa (18) makes a catch for a touchdown<\/a> against the Green Bay Packers during the fourth quarter at Lambeau Field. The play was originally ruled an incomplete pass, but the call was overturned. Despite TeSlaa’s effort, the Packers won the game 27-13.<\/p>\n

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2 \/ 4<\/p>\n

Best images of the 2025 NFL season<\/p>\n

Week 1: The New England Patriots’ Robert Spillane (14) and Christian Elliss (53) tackle Las Vegas Raiders tight end Michael Mayer (87) during the second half at Gillette Stadium. The Raiders won the game, 20-13.<\/p>\n

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3 \/ 4<\/p>\n

Best images of the 2025 NFL season<\/p>\n

Week 1: New York Giants quarterback Russell Wilson (3) fumbles the ball on a tackle by Washington Commanders safety Will Harris (3) during the first quarter at Northwest Stadium. It was a rough Giants debut for Wilson (17 of 37 passing for 168 yards) as the Commanders won the game, 21-6.<\/p>\n

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4 \/ 4<\/p>\n

Best images of the 2025 NFL season<\/p>\n

Week 1: Fireworks go off before the NFL Kickoff Game between the Philadelphia Eagles and Dallas Cowboys at Lincoln Financial Field. The defending Super Bowl champion Eagles opened the season with a 24-20 victory over their longtime NFC East rivals.<\/p>\n

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Is Mike Evans playing in 2026? Here’s what we know<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The 2025 NFL season is officially in the rear-view. A season capped off by the Seattle Seahawks winning…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":159138,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[20485,10804,76259,10799,40450,50774,5270,10800,59263,10830,17775,48752,10104,135,1526,2964,137,136,42346],"class_list":{"0":"post-159137","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tampa","8":"tag-baltimore","9":"tag-chris-godwin","10":"tag-darren-jones","11":"tag-emeka-egbuka","12":"tag-jalen-mcmillan","13":"tag-john-harbaugh","14":"tag-kansas-city-chiefs","15":"tag-mike-evans","16":"tag-mike-tomlin","17":"tag-new-england-patriots","18":"tag-pittsburgh","19":"tag-receiving-yards","20":"tag-seattle-seahawks","21":"tag-tampa","22":"tag-tampa-bay","23":"tag-tampa-bay-buccaneers","24":"tag-tampa-headlines","25":"tag-tampa-news","26":"tag-tez-johnson"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/159137","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=159137"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/159137\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/159138"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=159137"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=159137"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=159137"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}