Mike Evans’ Undeniable Hall Of Fame Credentials
December 5th, 2023
Future Hall of Famer.
Joe had a back-and-forth with a guy over the weekend who claimed since Mike Evans isn’t a fantasy football star he doesn’t belong in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Yes, folks, they lurk among us.
For those in a severe hangover since early in the weekend, Evans got his 10-straight 1,000-yard receiving season after posting 162 yards against the Panthers. No player has done that in his first 10 seasons.
Only Jerry Rice has more. The great Jerry Rice, maybe the best NFL player since Jim Brown (and before Tom Brady).
Joe tried to tell this guy that every person on the all-time receiving touchdowns list who has more TD catches than Evans is either already in the Hall of Fame, or is about to get there. (Larry Fitzgerald, foot-rubbing Rob Gronkowski).
Joe thought Bucs coach Todd Bowles’ words on why Evans is elite were just about perfect: Game after game, year after year, defensive coordinators target Evans and try to take him out. Yet Evans still delivers.
Additionally from Sunday, and it’s gotten little run, Evans became the first player in NFL history to have 60 catches in each of his first 10 seasons.
Then combine Evans’ total receiving yards and his touchdowns, only three receivers in NFL history have accomplished what he has, all Hall of Fame inductees.
The argument is over. Perhaps sometime in the 2030s, Evans will be inducted into Canton. The real question is, will the Sage of Tampa Bay sports, Ira Kaufman, still hang around to present Evans before the selectors?
(Since Joe typed this he’s learned in some circles Evans is a fantasy football star. Joe as always confesses his idea of fantasy is on a significantly higher plateau than football.)
Players with at least 11k rec yards and 90 rec TD in their first 10 seasons in NFL history:
Jerry Rice
Randy Moss
Marvin Harrison
MIKE EVANSWe gotta start respecting Evans as one of the greats #GoBucs pic.twitter.com/mmLOZyUfyb
— Hard Rock Bet (@HardRockBet) December 4, 2023
December 5th, 2023 at 10:56 am
There’s no denying it. The guy was having excellent seasons with Josh McCLOWN and MIKE GLENNON as his quarterback. He is a lock and should be a first ballot enshrinement.
December 5th, 2023 at 10:57 am
love the game like sunday….. but those drops man…….the critical ones that are more the norm than the acception, are hard to forget.
December 5th, 2023 at 10:57 am
Those dear sir are the FACTS. Get the jacket ready! There’s no denying it!
If you disagree, you just don’t like the guy. That’s all there is to it.
December 5th, 2023 at 10:58 am
those 3 listed above him though were on another level. he is a journeyman compared to them
December 5th, 2023 at 11:08 am
Hey…remember all the geniuses who said baker was going to kill Mike Evans’ 1000yd season streak. Five games to spare and only a game behind first place.
December 5th, 2023 at 11:11 am
Easy thanks for posting that
That was my post I had to sh*t down an argument at the bar Sunday some 🤡 said Evans not elite
I used the simple logic if he would had a consistent QB he would have 150 TD by now
December 5th, 2023 at 11:11 am
@Boss , you might want to go check and see who Tom Brady said was the best WR he ever played with.
December 5th, 2023 at 11:15 am
At the beginning of the year I feel like half the talk was about how Mike was So-so and maybe had a shot at the HoF someday in the backlog.
He has continued his typical production this year (might actually end up being his best) and now he is getting a ton of hype.
I just dont understand. Mike was at this level years ago. Why now are people beating the drum? Did you all just not recognize it?
I bet all those naysayers wanting the Bucs to trade Evans sure feel dumb. Just kidding they are not self aware enough to understand that feeling….
LOL
December 5th, 2023 at 11:21 am
The 3 listed above him all have one thing Mike never had. Which is THE ONLY reason they are household names compared to ME.
Hall of Fame QBs in the prime of their careers. With that in mind, you can make a case that Mike is the real GOAT among that 1 of 1 list that he OWNS and the list above that he will someday own as well.
December 5th, 2023 at 11:26 am
Is Mike Evans getting better at getting open or is it Canales scheme?
He has been much more open this year over the past three years. If Mayfield would be a little more accurate and stops underthrowing the ball, Evans would already be challenging his personal best in receiving yards and TDs.
December 5th, 2023 at 11:26 am
Evans got his numbers with McCown, Glennon, and Mayfield. If the voters need to see more than that they shouldn’t be voting.
December 5th, 2023 at 11:29 am
Thar should really not be a hard case for Ira to make
December 5th, 2023 at 11:29 am
of course he’s going to the hall of fame. If his career ended tomorrow he’d be a hall of famer.
December 5th, 2023 at 11:29 am
I traded for Mike Evans earlier this year because he’s a top flight fantasy receiver this year. All that aside, he’s a HoFer.
December 5th, 2023 at 11:34 am
Barry Sanders syndrome, the best on the worst. Take out Brady’s 3 seasons thus team has been caca. 9 of his 10 seasons he’s had 2 #1 draft picks as his QB and the GOAT. I will say one thing would have love to see him line up with Gronk, Edleman & Amendola instead of Hogan, Mitchell, N’keal Harry, Malcolm Mitchell, rookie Cooks, Sanu etc. He is worthy of the HOF, fist ballot is a stretch.
December 5th, 2023 at 11:36 am
People that say he’s not a HOF player are delusional and drink bath water
December 5th, 2023 at 11:44 am
Mike says he is at his peak. He sure looks it and seems to be getting better at the ripe age of 30 when most top receivers start slowing down. But he doesn’t have explosive stats like Tyreek Hill who will have probowls every year in the league and will have 5 all pros after this year. Mike is light on the accolades.
WRs like Mike gets in the HOF due to their consistent great play over a long period. He is still way down the all time receiving yards at 35. That being said, he needs more years. He only has 10 years. 2 more years of 1000 plus yards will make it 12 consecutive 1000 yard years and about 14000 yards total. Surpassing Jerry Rice for the consecutive record and getting in the top 10 all time receiving yards and TDs is HOF worthy.
December 5th, 2023 at 11:48 am
Anyone else remember Joe’s attitude when the Bucs drafted Evans? He wanted Manzel (Johnny Football) – from the same school. Joe wrote numerous criticisms of this front office decision.
December 5th, 2023 at 11:51 am
And he’s done this with exactly ONE QB who’d be ranked anywhere near very good.
December 5th, 2023 at 11:57 am
No Mike will not get in if he retires this year. With just 10 years, he would be compared to the likes of Megatron who was in the league for 9 years and Tyreek Hill who is currentlyin his 8th year. He doesn’t have enough accolades and not enough dominant season. He only has 1 truly dominant season, and arguably 2 or 3 quasi dominant season.
But the trajectory for Mike is trending upward. 300 more yards and 3 more Tds, and I would qualify this year as a dominant season. He’ll get a probowl and maybe his 1st all pro. It looks like Mike has at least 2 more years of being at his peak.
December 5th, 2023 at 11:59 am
His drops, though. Does not have HOF hands but has the stats. He’s be a low tier HOFer at this point. Still deserves a gold jacket.
December 5th, 2023 at 12:00 pm
Casual Observer : To be fair, almost everyone wants a hot shot rookie forgetting that even in the 1st round probably 1 in 5 are franchise QBs while the other 4 are average or complete busts.
December 5th, 2023 at 12:04 pm
Gronk – OK – It was just a casual observation.
December 5th, 2023 at 12:05 pm
He’s a fantasy stud this year. Other years he has been frustrating for fantasy purposes cause of massive week to week point swings. 20 or 5. He’s a lock for the hall, 2 more seasons like this and he’s a lock for first ballot. His drops are bad, I wouldn’t put him with Randy or Jerry but I never watched them play a ton either. The stars I currently watch at WR also drop balls. Happens to the best of them. I recently saw Tyreek drop a TD, 2 weeks ago in GB I watched 2 balls hit Keenan Allen in the chest before they hit the turf. Drops are a poor argument against Evans’ case.
December 5th, 2023 at 12:17 pm
money mike is his new name…
because he’s going to canton…
has no contract – and’s about to git paid
#GitItMoneyMike
December 5th, 2023 at 12:18 pm
He’s on pace to reach 15 touchdowns too…more TDs than he has had in the past. The man is a beast.
Going to miss him when the final whistle blows for his career.
December 5th, 2023 at 12:18 pm
Oh, and he’s tied for his longest catch too.
December 5th, 2023 at 12:20 pm
HOF
December 5th, 2023 at 12:46 pm
Mike is HoF calibre, undoubtedly. But I suspect he’ll have to wait a while for it. He’s not a ‘big name’ guy no matter how he plays, Tampa isn’t a trendy team, and he doesn’t make many dazzling highlight reel plays.
What he does, he does well – but it’s not flashy. I love the guy to death, but he won’t be a first ballot HoF.
December 5th, 2023 at 12:48 pm
Doug Williams, Vinny Testaverte, Trent Dilfer, Josh Freeman, Jameis Winston.
Those are the choices we have made on first round Quarterbacks.
Williams was good…okay. For the generation he played in.
Testaverte was horrible…most times sacked, most interceptions thrown in a season (for Bucs) and most career interceptions (for Bucs).
Trent Dilfer. People here do not remember him fondly…but…While with the Bucs, he won more games than any quarterback in franchise history and took the team to their first playoff game in 15 years. He won a superbowl in Tampa…for the Ravens. I think he was so-so QB…better than Mayfield, but worse than, say, Brian Greise.
Josh Freeman. I had high hopes for him. Whatever his mental issues, they completely derailed his career. He never recovered.
Jameis Winston. Well, we all know how that went. He had the Most games of 300 passing yards or more, the most passing Touchdowns, most 3,000 yard seasons, most consecutive 4,000 yard seasons…shoot all that sounds good doesn’t it? But…Most interceptions returned for touchdowns in a season…First player in NFL history to throw 30-or-more touchdowns and 30 interceptions in a season…Most fumbles…well, you know the rest.
So…Doug was the best QB we ever drafted in the first round.
And that is where the QB curse started, thanks to Culverhouse.
To be fair though, Testaverte and Dilfer did not have good teams around them. I do think Dilfer had a chance of succeeding in Tampa…eventually. I mean, he would not have been elite, obviously, but he probably would have done better than Sean King or Freeman.
In no way do I believe this team cannot draft a quality first round QB. Exposure to Tom Brady had to have taught Jason Licht the qualities to look for.
He really had very little to do with Winston being drafted. First, Lovie Smith made that choice and Licht, being a young DM, had to agree. he even said at the time that he wasn’t on board with the Winston pick at first…but Smith convinced him (in other words…give the coach what he wanted).
One thing is certain…the teams that have successfully picked a franchise QB in the first round? It took most of them several tries. They failed as many times as we have, if not more.
But they kept at it and eventually struck gold, and then it lasted for 10+ years.
If you think getting a franchise QB in the first round is hard…getting one in the later rounds is much harder.
December 5th, 2023 at 12:49 pm
UKBuccaneer, maybe if we somehow get another ring before he leaves.
December 5th, 2023 at 12:54 pm
Just imagine what his numbers might look like if 8 of his 10 seasons instead of just two were with a winning coach and QB?
December 5th, 2023 at 1:02 pm
mike is the best bucs receiver ever…
but for you younger fellas on the board…go to youtube and put in “kevin house highlights tampa bay”…
you will pull up some old fuzzy non hd footage of a terrific bucs receiver who was a whole lot of fun to watch back in the days…
kevin house…yes…
he’s no ME13…but for the early to mid 80’s he brought the house down in tampa bay (pun intended)
December 5th, 2023 at 1:10 pm
It’s not a debate. And that TD last Sunday should be in the HOF Highlight reel.
How can anyone not love this guy? I don’t care what it costs, he needs to retire a Buccaneer, just like Mr. Derrick Brooks.
Then he should run for Mayor or Sheriff.
December 5th, 2023 at 1:17 pm
In case anyone has not noticed , Mike has gotten noticeably faster this year , no small feat for a 30 year old.
December 5th, 2023 at 1:34 pm
adam from ny….Kevin House was awesome!!! 1981 was his best year. I was in 9th grade and remember how Doug Williams would just air the ball to House. The Oakland game and the Detroit game (2nd one) were really exciting games. House did not have a prolific career, but 1981 was a good one.
December 5th, 2023 at 1:49 pm
And he’s see the field better and playing smarter.
For some reason with Brady, Mike would be running one way and Brady would be throwing another way. Other times Mike was tightly covered.
I don’t know what it is this year, but Mike is open a lot. He’d probably have a couple more hundred yards and a few more TDs if Mayfield would stop throwing the ball short.
December 5th, 2023 at 2:05 pm
UkBuccaner. Never say never to Evans not being a first ballot HOF. His story is still being written.
With two more huge games, say 150 yards and TD each. It could be Evans best season in his career. Incredibly, he could be peaking at 30 years old. 1300+ yards and 10+ TD average for this year and the next 2 years, would make it 3 dominant seasons to add to his resume. So along with 12 consecutive 1000 yard season beating Rice, top 10 in yards, top 10 in TDS, that makes Mike a first ballot HOF.
December 5th, 2023 at 2:09 pm
I hope you slapped some sense into them.
December 5th, 2023 at 2:16 pm
What the future holds for Mike …
RECEIVING YARDS
1 yr x 1K – 13K – Steve Largent – Top 20
2 yrs x 1K – 14K – James Lofton – Top 12
3 yrs x 1k – 15K – Randy Moss – Top 5
4 yrs x 1k – 16K – Terrell Owens – Top 3
He’ll finish behind only Larry Fitzgerald and Jerry Rice.
TOUCHDOWNS
1 yr x 10TD – 105 – Tim Brown – Top 10
2 yrs x 10TD – 115 – Antonio Gates – Top 7
3 yrs x 10TD – 125 – Marvin Harrison – Top 6
4 yrs x 10TD – 135 – Terrell Owens – Top 4
He’ll finish only behind Owens, Moss, Rice.
December 5th, 2023 at 2:16 pm
Haha even Jeff has to give Mike his backhanded props lol smh effin trolls gonna troll
December 5th, 2023 at 2:27 pm
“Joe had a back-and-forth with a guy over the weekend who claimed since Mike Evans isn’t a fantasy football star he doesn’t belong in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.”
I’ve played Fantasy Football since 1990, in high school, when we had to do everything by hand based off the stats on Monday and Tuesday in the St Pete Times. My creds are strong.
With that said, Evans IS a fantasy football star, and has been for years. He’s not generally at the very very top, but he’s been a starter for a decade now. The only issue he’s ever really had was with Brady, and having so many options, Mike’s production tended to come in clumps.
But the basics of the article are absolutely correct. It’s remarkable how if you listened to other teams podcasts in the past how generally dismissive of Evans they are. They say he’s just a deep ball one trick pony – it’s really incredible. However, I have noticed this year that people are finally catching onto the fact that Evans is truly elite. For example the dummies doing an Eagles podcasts were going over Evans numbers and were shocked by them and said, wow, he might be a HOF WR. However, King Stupid goes to the Bears podcast I listened to earlier this year that claimed the Bears had better WRs than the Bucs – then Mike lit them up.
Anywho, I have heard a lot more talk of Evans and HOF this year, which is great. I just hope David equally gets that same respect, since he also should be a first ballot guy.
Other prospects on this team that could one day be HOF’er… Wirfs and Winfield. Going to be very difficult for Winfield to make it, just because of the position and how few safeties get in, but he absolutely is on a HOF path so far. As for Wirfs, short of injuries, he’s a shoe-in.
Other longshots… If Vita can keep his increased sack production, and ends up playing a long time, he might work his way in. But it’s probably a long shot.
AND OF COURSE BAKER MAYFIELD. AS WE ALL KNOW HE’S STARTING HIS RUN TO THE SB NOW, AND WHEN HE GETS THAT, AND THE BUCS SIGN HIM TO A NEW 8-YEAR $500-MILLION DEAL, AND HE’S LEAVE MVP FOR THE NEXT 4 SEASONS, IT’S GOING TO BE INSANE!
#TEAMBAKER!
#TEAMPOSITIVE!
December 5th, 2023 at 2:33 pm
SlyPirate@ to be fair in the past blowing on receivers wasn’t PI. All those guys were mauled in the earlier years plus a running game was much more prominent. In Mike’s earlier years your scenario maybe applicable but the mid to ladder half of his career WR’s have it pretty easy as QB’s do.
December 5th, 2023 at 2:48 pm
I’ve watched Mikes entire career, I never once thought he wasn’t one of the greats, anybody thinking otherwise just ain’t been paying attention, they spend to much time on that flashy superstar sh!t instead of looking at actual football players not entertainers. Mike Evans is Mike Evans he knows who he is and that’s why we have much love for the man. Go BUCS!
December 5th, 2023 at 2:53 pm
Jay-Miss was the most pro ready QB in that draft and had all the tools to be successful. It didn’t work out for the Bucs but given the state of the franchise if you had to do that draft all over again you still have to pick him. The team would need to make other, different decisions after that though.
December 5th, 2023 at 3:18 pm
D-Rome Says:
December 5th, 2023 at 2:53 pm
He really had very little to do with Winston being drafted. First, Lovie Smith made that choice and Licht, being a young DM, had to agree. he even said at the time that he wasn’t on board with the Winston pick at first…but Smith convinced him (in other words…give the coach what he wanted).
Jay-Miss was the most pro ready QB in that draft and had all the tools to be successful. It didn’t work out for the Bucs but given the state of the franchise if you had to do that draft all over again you still have to pick him. The team would need to make other, different decisions after that though.
————-
The choices in 2015 were two… stick with Glennon or draft Winston.
The Bucs choose Winston, and because of that, they won a SB in 2020.
Had the team chosen to go the Glennon route, and drafted defense, then you don’t have all those offenses pieces need to get Brady to come here.
Also, again, Winston while he was here, from 2015-2019, during that time the Bucs had the WORST defense in the NFL over that period, the WORST kicking game AND played the hardest schedule in the NFL. Meanwhile, on offense, they completely rewrote the Bucs record book, setting highs in every passing category EXCEPT for turnovers.
The revisionist history nonsense that says Winston, a 5000 yard passer, was a bust because the Bucs had a chance to get the GOAT and acted on that, is complete fake news nonsense.
Winston reset the franchise in a positive way, and lead to the SB.
Yet we still have people out there arguing the team should have stuck with Glennon. They’re the same people right now saying the team needs to stick with Baker.
December 5th, 2023 at 3:19 pm
Any team who ends up with the number one overall draft choice has just proven to be a pretty crappy team. Therefore, instead of drafting one player to heap the entire fortunes of a morabond franchise on, you trade the pick for three first rounders and a couple of second rounders and some players and maybe cash and I don’t know, a new car. Let someone else roll the dice while you rebuild your team with multiple top picks.
December 5th, 2023 at 4:15 pm
Thinking about the crappy quarterbacks Mike has had to deal with in his career, is 58% catch rate of targets is pretty damn good. Jerry Rice who had much better quarterbacks is only 65%. And Mike did this during a good portion of the Lost decade. The amazing thing is that he did not seek free agency and get out of Tampa. Thank you Mike for getting to experience a true Hall of Famer receiver in Tampa Bay.
December 5th, 2023 at 4:16 pm
Hey NE fan, what are the pats without Brady?…… 💩
December 5th, 2023 at 5:50 pm
Rod Munch Says:
The Bucs choose Winston, and because of that, they won a SB in 2020.
—————-
This will never not be a hilarious take.
When you draft a QB first overall, it doesn’t suddenly become a great pick because you let him go and bring in a guy who wins you a Super Bowl.
For what it’s worth, I wanted Leonard Williams in that draft, because both the leading QB’s were suspect. Turns out, I was right.
December 5th, 2023 at 6:06 pm
Jerry Rice had Joe Montana and other Greats throwing him the ball. Evans had a bunch of journeymen scrubs not counting the GOAT Tom Brady throwing him the ball. 2’nd best QB he has played with was Jameis. Evans has been underrated and disrespected. He is a for sure first ballot Hall of Famer right now.
December 5th, 2023 at 6:41 pm
I drafted me13 right after a guy in my leauge took Chris Godwin. I could not believe Mike fell to me in the 5th round and I looked over to the guy who drafted Chris & said to him , wrong player ! I knew Mike was going to eat this year because baker needs a big catch radius to throw to since he is so frigging sporadic with his throws . Mike is awesome man ! Proud to call him a buc . The big Ole A-train is still my favorite offensive player in bucs history , ME13 is right behind him . Let’s fire toilet bowls & go bucs !
December 5th, 2023 at 8:06 pm
UKBuccaneer – What part did I get wrong? Go back to prior to the 2015 offseason, and there were only two paths, Mike Glennon or going with the QB in the draft.
If the team stuck with Glennon, they would have built around the defense — which, BTW, about half the people in the comments here wanted to do. The Glennon Mob then was just as loud and annoying as the Baker Bois are today.
Anywho, the correct pick was taking the 5000+ yard QB who rewrote the Buccaneers offensive record book, which in turn directly lead to winning a Super Bowl. Without Winston, you don’t have a team built around the offense, you don’t have Bruce Arians, and you don’t win a Super Bowl.
December 6th, 2023 at 12:21 pm
Rod,
Plenty of us fans were willing to move on from Winston after the 2017 season.
We could have just stayed pat in our draft position and could have selected Josh Allen in 2018.
That would have worked so well also.
December 6th, 2023 at 12:39 pm
UNDENIABLE
GET IT DONE IRA!
December 6th, 2023 at 1:06 pm
Not only has ME13 made all these stats JOE look who he had throwing him the football. He’s gotten 1k with every QB who has thrown him the ball. That alone is amazing. Besides TB12 he’s had backups throwing him the ball. Come on these folks need to respect ME13. Hands down he’s elite and still going strong after 10 seasons. Let’s go
December 6th, 2023 at 3:24 pm
My favorite debate amongst friends is who has a better chance at the Hall of Fame: Mike Evans or Davante Adams?
Everyone says Davante…but you can make an extremely good case for ME > DA. Mike’s got the stats, Super Bowl ring…Mike’s been overlooked his entire career like Lavonte David.