Mike Evans Got Cooper Kupp-Like Money
March 4th, 2024
Where does he rank?
Bucs future Hall of Famer and the greatest wide receiver in franchise history got his bag.
By agreeing to a new contract with the Bucs, Mike Evans will get $52 million for the next two seasons. That should allow Evans to sleep well this evening.
Per James Palmer of NFL Network, Evans is now one of the top-paid receivers in the NFL. He’s getting paid just above A.J. Brown’s salary and is a handful of tricked-out Ford F-150s from Bill Currie Ford away from getting Cooper Kupp money.
Last week at the combine, Joe heard from a very reliable NFL source that Evans was looking at between $26-28 million a year, the high end of that figure is, of course, Davante Adams money.
Evans got the $26 million-a-year deal.
Per Palmer, Evans is now the fourth-highest-paid receiver in the NFL.
On to Baker Mayfield!
Mike Evans agreed to a 2-year, $52.0M deal with the Buccaneers per @MikeGarafolo
– 26.0M average per year is the 4th-highest among current WR contracts pic.twitter.com/NZqxU5kMDB— James Palmer (@JamesPalmerTV) March 4, 2024
March 4th, 2024 at 9:58 am
Amen
March 4th, 2024 at 9:59 am
Well-deserved, and don’t be surprised to see an extension happen next year.
It is good to see a little loyalty shown to a player who has restructured contracts and given his all for a decade.
Now Baker and LVD
March 4th, 2024 at 9:59 am
Go Bucs
March 4th, 2024 at 10:00 am
Good for him. Glad he is back. Part of me likes the 2 year deal if he declines but part me doesn’t like it because he likely will be still good and get more money in 2 years. Time will tell.
March 4th, 2024 at 10:00 am
🙂
March 4th, 2024 at 10:01 am
The greatest Buc of the 21st century is a Buc for life. Today merits celebration
March 4th, 2024 at 10:03 am
What a great way to Start a Monday,
Congrats Mike Evans, one of the all time great Bucs!
March 4th, 2024 at 10:05 am
LFG Bucs… perfect deal for both sides
March 4th, 2024 at 10:05 am
Good stuff. Now Baker. I’ll sleep well tonight.
March 4th, 2024 at 10:09 am
Glad we got him done. Do the Bucs now look to trade or restructure CG? We have a ton of money tied up at WR.
March 4th, 2024 at 10:15 am
Great news, love Mike. What a stand-up guy, an awesome athlete, and a Buc legend. Lots of love from Texas and Aggieland.
March 4th, 2024 at 10:22 am
Production has been consistent year to year and QB to QB. No a risky move.
Now as I have seen the number of 205 for the pair thrown out here @ JBF does that mean the Bucs will offer 153 million to Mayfield? 3 years/ 51 mil/yr?
March 4th, 2024 at 10:23 am
He’ll probably still be a WR1 after the two years, just likely not worth as much money, which we can address at that time
March 4th, 2024 at 10:29 am
This could be extended and void years added….Mike has always been cooperative with restructuring. I would be surprised if it is done before the season starts to provide more cap room.
March 4th, 2024 at 10:31 am
Two years seems about right. Good for the team and good for the player.
March 4th, 2024 at 10:32 am
Glad he is back in what looks like a good deal for both sides. Onto the next FA.
March 4th, 2024 at 10:36 am
Paratrooper – I see your point, but it’s kind of a quid pro quo deal. Mike averages out as a top 5 receiver, but is also a team friendly deal. Mike can still be good or even great at 33, but he will also be 33. Who would the Bucs be really negotiating with on the open market? Bucs get back their guy while also not anchoring down their future with plenty of wiggle room
March 4th, 2024 at 10:42 am
Baker?
March 4th, 2024 at 10:47 am
fourth highest paid, but probably about 10 other receivers I’d rather have as my #1 WR. So maybe a smart move from the fan service side, but not a good personnel move, they overpaid.
Tyreek Hill, Brandon Aiyuk, Nico Collins, St. Brown, Justin Jefferson, Ceedee Lamb, A.J. Brown, Jamarr Chase, Deebo Samuel, Amari Cooper… all better than Evans right now, sorry.
March 4th, 2024 at 11:08 am
Nico collins? Aiyuk? Cooper? Go away troll
March 4th, 2024 at 11:26 am
Winfield next!
March 4th, 2024 at 11:56 am
Great deal, works for both sides, just like Jason said. While I’m a Bucs fan first, I also like & respect Mike a great deal. This is damn near the 2yr $50M (a la Brady) deal I was advocating for from the start, with a little extra thrown in due to the cap increase. I’d like to see what incentives might be included as well, probably an opportunity for him to bump it up a bit there. I just wonder if Mike is only wanting to play 2 more years, or they figured to potentially “split” a 4 year deal into 2, 2 year deals. That makes a lot more sense paying for what he may deliver during each 2 year period rather than try to come to some crazy average of what he’d be worth over 4 where he’s getting underpaid at the start and overpaid at the end. I think I lean more towards him only playing 2 more years, getting the streak record, then hanging it up. Well done Jason, well done Mike!!
March 4th, 2024 at 12:03 pm
@David… thumbs up to all the accolades noted, but I’m done with the re-working/re-structuring accolades Mike gets when we try to allocate more cap space, it’s just good business for him, vs any sacrifice he apparently makes. He gets the guaranteed money in the form of a bonus, re-structuring his base salary, et etc, but make no mistake, Mike has never sacrificed one dollar for that restructure. That being said, glad he’s a Buc again
March 4th, 2024 at 12:03 pm
where is the face palm emoji?
I tend to forget coaches look at the short term when signing a player. ah well.
Don’t get me wrong, I like watching him catch balls in garbage time just as much as the average joe.
March 4th, 2024 at 12:03 pm
Doooshlarue where you and your boy Boss at?? Lmao great day to be a REAL Buc fan
March 4th, 2024 at 12:04 pm
@Boss
Garbage time? That’s all you got lol weak little boy
March 4th, 2024 at 12:07 pm
nah conner…..mike will come in looking like Vea and blow a hammy by game 3.
bet on it.
March 4th, 2024 at 12:14 pm
@Boss
How bout you go root for the saints cause you sound like one of their pos fans from that crap hole city
March 4th, 2024 at 12:15 pm
Good good news. Being a 48 year Bucs fan I am happy for Evans he has been the greatest Buccaneer other than L Selmon in Bucs history and also the foundation of the Bucs offense since he was drafted
March 4th, 2024 at 12:30 pm
Have to think about State Income Tax rates.
For Mike to make the same $26MM in California, he would have had to earn approximately $29MM.
Mike’s a smart guy.
He knows he got “better” thank Kupp money.
Well deserved.
March 4th, 2024 at 12:55 pm
It’s Corn Says:
Mistake! There goes a top flight edge rusher. Now the only way to sigh Baker, David and Winfield is to start our March to salary cap once again.
March 4th, 2024 at 1:36 pm
YES
March 4th, 2024 at 1:38 pm
My only disappointment, now I won’t get to post long rants about why signing with the Bucs is his only option.
March 4th, 2024 at 1:58 pm
@Not – dude your celebratory note on Mikey signing caused me to LOL so hard I spewed lunch across the restaurant. Oh man that’s beautiful! I hope you’re right. Mikey certainly deserves the best.
March 4th, 2024 at 2:36 pm
I’m quite surprised it’s just a two year deal. I mean that’s good for the Bucs in that it offers them protection, but I’m really shocked that Mike didn’t demand at least three years. Personally I’d have given him at least three years since I think he’s going to continue to be an ALL-PRO player for the next two.
Anyways, glad this got done, and the money is fair when Godwin is making $20m, and the cap just went up $30m, which means everyones salaries are going up.
March 4th, 2024 at 2:48 pm
Congrats Mike.. hope you have a great 2 years your set for life.
March 4th, 2024 at 2:58 pm
@76 – you mean the first $110 mill didn’t set him for life?
March 4th, 2024 at 3:01 pm
Big Mike Earned that contract! Congrats Hall of Famer!
March 4th, 2024 at 4:04 pm
Cooper Kupp pays the state income tax of 14.4% so Mikes getting more money
March 4th, 2024 at 4:14 pm
So much love for Mike and am so happy for him and all of us.
Great point BuxfaninTX about the state income tax. Very true.
March 4th, 2024 at 5:09 pm
Hey Joe, do you know anything about the void years on this contract because I highly doubt it’s 25 million per season if there’s void years that takes that number down a bit
March 4th, 2024 at 6:19 pm
Matlok727 Says:
March 4th, 2024 at 5:09 pm
Hey Joe, do you know anything about the void years on this contract because I highly doubt it’s 25 million per season if there’s void years that takes that number down a bit
——–
Because of past deals where they’ve pushed out money, Mike was, before this deal, already $12m of dead cap space, so any new deal is on top of that. Meaning they certainly used void years or other tricks of the trade to kick the bucket down the road.
Which I’m fine with. The Saints did that for over a decade and never really had to completely clean house.
So, basically, the team is going to try to keep things together for probably 2 more years. We shall see.
March 4th, 2024 at 7:32 pm
Now at Tampa Stadium Mike Evans. Get your new Mike Evans collector cup and beverage for a mere 30.00 dollars. 😂
March 5th, 2024 at 8:46 am
Time to restructure some contracts or move some players-
Godwin, Davis and Dean all should take restructures if it helps the team. None of them are game changers other than the pre-injury version of Godwin.
Chris is still a very good receiver but before the Saints cheap shot on his knee, he was an elite slot receiver, one of the best in the league. Last season he had his moments but nothing like when Arians and Brady were relying on him.
Davis and Dean are both good corners but they are not improving so why should they be paid like top 15 corners when they are really in the top 20-30 class?