Tampa Bay Buccaneers wide receiver Mike Evans is in jeopardy of doing something for the first time in his career; failing to surpass 1,000 receiving yards.
Evans has been one of the most consistently dominant and explosive wide receivers in the sport throughout his career, posting at least 1,000 receiving yards in each of his first ten seasons. However, after being sidelined with a hamstring injury the past three weeks, it is going to take a Herculean effort for him to reach what has become his standard output.
Through seven games played, and with just seven remaining for the Buccaneers, Evans has just 26 catches for 335 yards and six touchdowns.
Buccaneers quarterback Baker Mayfield, though, suggests that the offense can’t function at its highest levels if Tampa Bay is making Evans reaching his benchmark a priority.
“I’ve been in a situation where you’re trying force feed the ball to a guy, and that’s not how this offense works especially,” Mayfield said of Evans. “So staying true to the reads, defense will dictate where the ball needs to go. When we have our one-on-one matchups with him, we need to take advantage of it though.”
All signs point to Evans likely returning Sunday against the New York Giants, which could give the Buccaneers the chance to turn the tide from a four-game losing streak coming off the bye but potentially even help Evans chip away towards 1,000 yards.
“Mike’s a big part of the offense, so he is going to be in the ball game when he comes back,” Buccaneers head coach Todd Bowles told reporters, when asked about Evans being able to keep his streak alive, “and then we’ll go from there and see how they’re playing us and take it from there.”
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