Evans: Health Key To Stardom
June 30th, 2015
Admits to practicing too cautiously for fear of reinjuring himself.
Last year, Bucs Godzilla-like wide receiver Mike Evans missed a huge chunk of offseason workouts because of a bum hamstring. He was beat up early in the regular season, too.
Evans even mused he was adjusting to how hard defenses hit in the NFL.
Then, Evans exploded having one of the best seasons a Bucs receiver has logged, and wound up with over 1,000 yards receiving.
Evans wants more. And part of that is staying healthy, so he told Tom Pelissero of USA Today recently.
He sometimes played around 240 pounds last year — “It was my first time having money,” Evans deadpanned — but has dropped into the 230 range, give or take. He’s working on flexibility to stop the “little B.S. injuries” that cost him practice time the past two springs.
“When I get that down, it’ll make me faster, too,” Evans said. “I can’t open up as much as I want sometimes, because I’m scared I’m going to tweak my hamstring or something.”
Now this is scary in a good way. If Evans himself confesses that he held back because he was afraid he would blow a gasket of some sort, then good grief, what can this guy really do?
Well, we might find out in a few months. Evans is already an “X” receiver and it doesn’t take a mind reader to figure out offensive coordinator Dirk Koetter wants Evans to become the Tampa Bay version of Julio Jones. Then there is the following gem Evans dropped on Pelissero, that if Evans is targeted 200 times, Evans believes he can be thought of as NFL elite.
As if he isn’t there already.
June 30th, 2015 at 6:46 am
Mike Evans is being quite optimistic if he’s looking to get targeted 200 times this year. Don’t think any NFL WR got targeted that many times in 2014 (AJ Green I think got the most at 181).
June 30th, 2015 at 8:11 am
Don’t get hung up on the numbers as these are the comments of a driven person. This team now has a handfull of these personality types which is what I want. The more there are the more success the team will have.
June 30th, 2015 at 8:13 am
I think he may be targeted less if we have success with ASJ & Wright….and use a slot reciever more often……could be targeted more even with that if we keep the ball on offense & have more plays….
June 30th, 2015 at 8:32 am
Evans’ Rookie year made Julio Jones’ pale in comparison.
He also had the same amount of TDs as OBJ with Less targets.
Kid is a beast!
June 30th, 2015 at 9:13 am
Safe to say many footballs will be winging their way to Buc receivers, the graspeneering dunkaneers.
June 30th, 2015 at 9:36 am
Let’s hope that all the skill guys get their share of targets, yards and TD’s.
I think that Koetter will plan along those lines. Otherwise, one player can’t carry the whole team.
I vividly recall Evans getting speared in the chest on a crossing route, holding on to the ball and being out for the rest of the game.
Yes Mike, they hit a lot harder in the NFL. The key is for Koetter/Jameis not to hang you out to dry in the first place. And, I’m even more worried about Evans not being able to get deep because of a gimpy hammie.
We better put more time into developing our speed guys at TC. So far it looks like we have about 50 guys with TE speed and only 2-3 guys with WR speed. That’s fine if you don’t mind your WR 1&2 getting speared on a regular basis running 3rd & 5 slants. But, that wears thin over the course of a season.
June 30th, 2015 at 11:00 am
Need more of this….passion, anger, no limit soldiers.
June 30th, 2015 at 12:39 pm
I can see Evans having less touchdowns this year if the ball is really getting spread around between all our skill positions. And that would be a good thing!
You saw how defenses starting keying in on Evans towards the end of the season, knowing there wasn’t a TE or RB to ever worry about.
Regarding staying healthy, I would really like to see the Bucs start using a more intense and modern approach to the players dieting / nutrition and training, similar to what Chip Kelly has done in Philly.
July 1st, 2015 at 1:58 am
Mike Evans will be lucky if he get 150 targets and he should be in the 100-125 range, we have too many receiving weapons to be glued in on one player.