The Talent Of Mike Evans
June 11th, 2018
Best receiver.
Amid all the awful, painful losses, sometimes all of us forget to appreciate talent.
Take Mike Evans, for example. Dude is putting up Randy Moss like numbers. Yet starting last year, we began to hear chirping about his awful yards per catch, never mind he is a first down machine, makes tremendous catches and has, in Joe’s mind, the best footwork along the sidelines in the NFL.
Chase Stuart of FootballPerspective.com recently put Evans’ talent into perspective.
@fbgchase: This year, soon-to-be-25-year-old Mike Evans will become the Bucs all-time leader in receiving yards and receiving touchdowns.
The best receiver in team history at the age of 25 and folks nitpick about his YAC, or lack thereof.
Joe was talking Saturday with a college offensive coordinator and the subject of Evans came up. Joe told him how folks are starting to harp on his YAC. This coach told Joe, “Evans is a possession receiver. You don’t normally expect YAC from those guys. Evans isn’t a burner like Antonio Brown.”
Joe thought that was a fair point.
June 10th, 2018 at 3:49 pm
I think sometimes we give too much credence to all these supposed know-it-alls. Mike is a possession receiver, end of analysis. That’s just like people expecting that Vita Vea, a defensive tackle that’s supposed to hold his gap and provide run support, be a sack machine. Seems you don’t really need knowledge to bloviate.
June 10th, 2018 at 4:49 pm
Evans is the best possession receiver in the league. Nothing wrong with that. Keep moving the chains Mike!!
June 10th, 2018 at 5:00 pm
Fake news…
June 11th, 2018 at 5:53 am
I recently responded to a question on another website “Are Yards After Catch Mandatory For WR Evans In Bucs Offense”? For me the key word was mandatory and the simple answer was No! Would it be nice if Mike got more YAC? The simple answer obviously is Yes! My good friend Forrest Gump reminds me that “Mike is as Mike does – and that’s good enough for me.
In my opinion, Mike is one of the best possession WRs in the NFL. I would rather see Mike just get that first down than have him try to turn upfield with his lumbering speed and have some SS take his legs and have him miss a game or two or worst case do a stretch on IR.
We should be thankful we have Mike and hope he is utilized more efficiently by the offense. How about spreading the ball around more to take some coverage away from Mike. He’s always the 3rd down “go to” guy and DCs know it. The red zone is an area where a lot more is to be had from Mike if the play calling is improved. He is never going to wow us with his breakaway speed (Mike did run a 4.53/40 in the combine, second run unofficial 4.47) or his open field elusiveness. Mike is 6-5, he needs time to reach warp speed – which he is not going to get in tight coverage.
I’m not greedy. I like Mike just the way he is. There are a ton more ways this team could score points than to increase Mike’s YAC. Evans joins Randy Moss and WR A.J. Green as the only receivers in NFL history to reach 1,000 yards in each of their first four seasons. The damn yards are coming from somewhere. Lol. Maybe if we get the deep ball working and take some coverage away from the middle of the field, we’ll see a different Mike. Until then don’t fix anything that ain’t broke! Go Bucs!
June 11th, 2018 at 6:09 am
Another fair point Joe was that ME13 had no problem with YAC when MG8 was throwing the ball!!!!!!!!!!!
GO Bucs!!!!!!!!!!!
June 11th, 2018 at 6:22 am
Yeah Buc Realist, but he couldn’t hold onto the ball then. Mike Evans credited with most drops in a game in 10 years in 2015. Pick your poison!
June 11th, 2018 at 6:31 am
Mike Evans is a total beast…..how would you like to defend him…..he catches most everything thrown his way and he’s always got someone….usually two on him. He has unbelievable talent and we are so fortunate to have him….will be the greatest receiver in Buc history if not already.
June 11th, 2018 at 6:48 am
@Macabee
MG8 and old man mCcown were throwing to him in 2014!!!!!! when his drops were 1/3 of what he had in 2015 and had 12 TDs and Yac was no problem at all!!!!!!!
GO Bucs!!!!!!!!!!
June 11th, 2018 at 7:10 am
Trench War, your last sentence is gold! Post of the day!
June 11th, 2018 at 7:12 am
@Buc Realist
Wasn’t our record 2-14 that year? You see where this is headed. Right? You don’t really want to go back there, do you? lol.
June 11th, 2018 at 7:13 am
@Realist: So you think, when VJAX was the vet in double coverage while ME13 was a rookie and DCs were not planning for him, he was more open?
Sounds like trivia to me, doesn’t it?
June 11th, 2018 at 7:16 am
@macabee
The Bucs where 2-14 because ME13 had yac and did not drop all the footballs he did a year latter?????
You are making no point at all!!!!!!!!
we are talking about yac, and it was not an issue when an accurate ball was being thrown to him!!!!!!! Now read this 10 times and maybe you will understand!!!!! And I don’t blame you, I blame the public school system that let you down and left you behind!!!!!!
Go Bucs!!!!!!!!
June 11th, 2018 at 7:18 am
Great point German Buc, That was how they played against the Bucs, But the back half, ME13 was starting to get the attention!!!!!!!!!
GO Bucs!!!!!!!!!!!!
June 11th, 2018 at 7:52 am
@Buc Realist my last word.
I am making a point. It is simply different than the one you are making. You imply that when ME13 has a more accurate passer, his YAC is better. I’m saying that may have been true but made no appreciable difference in winning games. I’m saying that when he caught the ball and moved the sticks, our winning percent increased. My inference is that his YAC is not the critical path to winning. As I said in my first post the Bucs would do well to look other places first before seeking to either blame or change Mike’s YAC. Good if they can but not mandatory!
June 11th, 2018 at 8:04 am
Yeah, Realist. But it seems fair to me to call his 209 yds effort in week 11 of the 2014 season against the Washington franchise his break out game.
Maybe after this DCs started to give him a closer look. In the following games that year, Mike had
47 (@CHI),
49 (vs CIN),
45 (@DET),
13 (@CAR),
49 (vs GB)
and 54 yds (vs NO).
I did the math: that’s 43 yds a game both @catch and after (what equals 688 yds for a full 16 game season).
So IMHO something in the seasons 2015, 16 and 17 must have been better than in this special part of that first season when DCs learned, they have to respect Mike. And maybe – just maybe – one part could be the QB throwing the ball to him.
June 11th, 2018 at 8:23 am
Evans is a fantastic reciever.
His yac is limited, because the defense is ALWAYS rotated to focus on Mike.
As he gets older, his maturity level will also increase- which will only help help.
We are lucky to have mike.
June 11th, 2018 at 9:22 am
Yes we are lucky to have Evans! My concern is that he braces for a hit every time he catches the ball. Not sure if this is from an injury he sustained but if you are worried about getting injured it effects your game and definitely your yards after the catch. Perfectly happy with him being a possession receiver though.
June 11th, 2018 at 9:31 am
ME and GMC are HOF Talent – gotta win some playoff games to have a shot.
GO BUCS!!!!
June 11th, 2018 at 9:56 am
STOP NITPICKING!!!!!!!!
#NOEXCUSESIN2018!!!!!….#PRESSURESONTHECOACHES!!!!….GO BUCS!!!!
June 11th, 2018 at 10:22 am
I like Mike Evans and am glad he is on our team, but you do need guys who can make yards after the catch. That is much easier than throwing the ball down the field time and time again as with those plays you need the below: 1.) The right coverage
2.) Time to throw
3.) A WR to get separation
4.) A good/on time throw
To get big plays with a YAC type player you need a missed tackle and bye bye.
We don’t have that on this roster unless ROJO is that guy.
June 11th, 2018 at 10:27 am
And no I did not forget about D-Jax but he does not brake tackles. The stars have to align with him in total space and free to run for him to go anywhere as if anyone is near by he looks for the sidelines ASAP each time.
June 11th, 2018 at 10:33 am
Wait a minute….mike glennon was accurate? That clown completed 57.6% of his passes in 2014 and his duck for an arm was even worst than jameis deep ball. Jameis completion percentage has always been better than 57%. Realist you are on crack my friend. Gotta love buc fans and their alternative facts. GLENNON?????? You cant make this up.
June 11th, 2018 at 10:34 am
I meant jameis completion percentage has never been as bad as 57%.
June 11th, 2018 at 10:48 am
But Webster you have to consider the source. This is the same guy that thinks our defensive coaching staff did the best job in the league last year and that they should not be held accountable for the next 6-8 years at least, cause you know it takes time.
June 11th, 2018 at 11:07 am
Teams roll coverage a lot towards Evans his 4 years and why wouldn’t they. He was virtually the only real threat. Hard for YAC when you are constantly asked to beat double coverage. His YAC will improve once the other WR’s and TE’s contribute more. D Jax especially.
June 11th, 2018 at 11:28 am
Mike is not a YAC receiver, so what?! He’s one of the best WRs in the league. If he couldn’t improve his YAC, would you really be disappointed? Really?!
June 11th, 2018 at 12:23 pm
MEME is the most overrated player in the NFL
Possession receiver? OMG! possession receivers need to be elite sure handed route runners that can create separation windows for the QB.
Quicksand MEME has the worst stop and go speed in all NFL
Don’t worry sheep. Now that he has his contract, soft tissue MEME wont be available for 13 games for the rest of his contract….
gives target to the BETTER RECIEVER Chris Godwin
Klueless had JW3 throw 3 ints to make sure MEME get his 1k yards on the last game of the year
“MEME contract will be known as the worst contract in the history of the Tampa Bay Buc history”
Kobe Faker
June 11th, 2018 at 12:34 pm
I love Mike and I’m happy he’s a Buc, but the “Randy Moss like” numbers should be the beginning and end of that comparison. No one is Randy-like except Randy IMO. Dude was trancendent. One of the first games where he announced his dominance on the league was against our Bucs. A great Possesion receiver is great to have. A Tim Brown, Andre Johnson type. But Randy Moss he is NOT.
June 11th, 2018 at 12:49 pm
I see kobe and the realist smoke the same crack