Mike Evans Contract Less Valuable Than Reported
March 5th, 2024
Savvy dealmaker.
That brand new Mike Evans contract, you know, 2 years for $52 million. It’s not as costly as it was presented.
ProFootballTalk.com founder and NBC Sports insider Mike Florio (and noted Ira Kaufman Podcast guest) got his hands on the Evans agreement and exposed it.
The deal pays out $23 million fully guaranteed in 2024. He’s due to make $18 million in 2025. Of that amount, $6 million is fully guaranteed and $6 million is guaranteed for injury.
So it’s a $20.5 million deal, not a $26 million contract. And it has $29 million fully guaranteed at signing.
It’s not bad for a guy with 10 years of NFL wear and tear. But it’s not what they told you it was on Monday.
Yes, the Evans contract has incentives and escalators that can drive the contract up to $26 million annually. But at the end of the day, the Bucs got a heck of a deal for a superstar receiver.
March 5th, 2024 at 1:03 pm
What are the incentives? And aren’t they there just to push off achieving those incentives to next years cap?
Would need more details on that stuff, but it sounds like the Bucs got a huge bargain, which means Evans really wanted to come back.
It is worth noting due to how the Bucs have been doing deals, even before this, Evans was going to be a $12m dead cap hit on this years cap – so any new money is on top of that.
March 5th, 2024 at 1:04 pm
Does Mike even give a hoot whether Baker signs? Doesn’t look like it to me.
March 5th, 2024 at 1:11 pm
Go Mike! Go Bucs!
March 5th, 2024 at 1:11 pm
@ Rod
It depends.
If the incentives are considered “Not likely to be reached” then they will count on next years cap.
If the incentives are considered “Likely to be reached” then they will count against this year’s cap.
March 5th, 2024 at 1:15 pm
And some in here really had the audacity to call him a selfish player. Just an awful take. Been unselfish his while career and people were quick to lump him in with the rest of the divas playing WR. Truly unbelievable
March 5th, 2024 at 1:18 pm
Looks like the Bucs brass has one eye on Evans and one eye on Father Time with this contract. Smart.
March 5th, 2024 at 1:20 pm
Bucs tag Winfield.
March 5th, 2024 at 1:22 pm
NFL.COM saying the Bucs are tagging Winfield….
March 5th, 2024 at 1:22 pm
Marine Buc – I did not know that, thank you!
Who gets to determine if something is easily achievable or not? Does the league review it and determine that, or is it the team/agent that does that – meaning it’s more of a cap tactic?
March 5th, 2024 at 1:24 pm
Bucfan1988 Says:
March 5th, 2024 at 1:22 pm
NFL.COM saying the Bucs are tagging Winfield….
——-
I don’t get why they don’t give him a new deal. The guy is a future HOF player, this generations Ronde Barber, give him a Steve Young style lifetime deal.
March 5th, 2024 at 1:25 pm
The greatest Buc ever accepted this offer…I admire Mike and
If the Buc organization offers some sawed off one year middle of the road inconsistent choke down journeyman qb anything north of thirty two and a better overall deal, I’ll push reset on what team I follow.
March 5th, 2024 at 1:26 pm
Rod, he’ll get a new deal….
Franchise tag is just to buy them more time to negotiate it
March 5th, 2024 at 1:32 pm
Rod Munch Says:
“I don’t get why they don’t give him a new deal.”
.
.
The team can still negotiate with him for a time. The tag keeps anyone else from being able to sign him away while that takes place.
March 5th, 2024 at 1:32 pm
Somewhere, the poster known as “Boss” is still crying into his keyboard over this fantastic deal.
March 5th, 2024 at 1:33 pm
Oops. @Bucfan1988 beat me to it!
March 5th, 2024 at 1:34 pm
We just franchise tagged Winfield…
Good move.
Hope they get a longterm deal done soon.
March 5th, 2024 at 1:37 pm
@ Rod
Likely to be reached are stats that were already achieved the prior year.
For example- Evan’s had 13 TDs in 2023. So a “likely to be reached incentive” would be 12 TDs.
A “Not likely to be reached incentive would be 14 TDs…
March 5th, 2024 at 1:39 pm
Marine Buc – wow, I can’t believe I did not know that. Thank you, that’s very useful info. I thought it was all just arbitrary – I didn’t realize there was a formula behind it.
March 5th, 2024 at 1:41 pm
Rod, this gives the club til JULY to negotiate the long term deal with AWJ31 before franchise tag affects their cap…
March 5th, 2024 at 1:46 pm
@ Rod
No worries bud. I found out about incentives after we signed Mayfield last season… I didn’t realize it either until then.
March 5th, 2024 at 1:57 pm
Any void years?
March 5th, 2024 at 1:58 pm
Personally i like incentives in contracts as long as they’re reasonable. Seen way too many guys come out of FA and underperform. Hoping they do the same with Baker. Guarantees lower the overall impact (settle for less), guarantees you get your money’s worth
March 5th, 2024 at 2:01 pm
What was Evans salary through his career? Anybody have that?
March 5th, 2024 at 2:04 pm
Mike knows his time is ticking. There were no long term deals to be had. Highest paid receiver? Didn’t happen. Not surprising the deal happened after the receivers put on a show at the combine, with some mocks having the Bucs taking a wideout at #26. They still might. Glad he’s back, he was always going to retire a Buc. His deal tells you all you need to know about the team first man.
March 5th, 2024 at 2:05 pm
The not-likely-to-be-achieved incentives are also how they hid LVD money. The negative is that those dollars are already counted for 2024, which is part of the reason getting through The Brady Bill has ripe effects for a few more years.
March 5th, 2024 at 2:06 pm
Ripple*
March 5th, 2024 at 2:29 pm
Hearing the details – I like the Evans contract a lot more than at first….
$20.5M average for 2 years – with another $5M+ in incentives each year…
Perfect. Better deal for the Bucs than I expected….
Great Job Licht and Co.!
March 5th, 2024 at 2:30 pm
There’s been so much noise throughout media outlets and social media that appeared to drive up the market on these players. None of it made sense to me. How does a player who should earn his richest contract post-rookie deal, then go into his third contract for an egregious $10M more than his previous deal and at the playing age 31 years old!? If this is the exact deal, this was a fantastic deal, hopefully the Baker signing is imminent and it’s another smart deal with incentives. These team deals will allow our GM to lock up his young stud talent and perhaps we can land either an interior Oline player and/or a stud DE/OLB in free agency and/or trade.
March 5th, 2024 at 2:43 pm
WHAT THIS TELL YOU …
Evans could have got more money. Evans wanted to get paid, plus leave enough to build a winner.
Love this guy.
March 5th, 2024 at 3:20 pm
Fantastic.
March 5th, 2024 at 3:24 pm
Mike Evans has made $110 Million as a Buccaneer.
March 5th, 2024 at 3:49 pm
so all this talk about him wanting to test free agency was a bunch of Fake News. He ended up taking a deal that was good for him at this stage of his career or him and his agent determined that was the best they could get. I am glad he remained a Buc. It is good to see.
March 5th, 2024 at 4:22 pm
Evans is a great guy. Just like Brady. They don’t take all the money and help build a strong team instead.
March 5th, 2024 at 5:11 pm
CHEAP BUCS.
March 5th, 2024 at 5:23 pm
@Mike Johnson,
Cheap? Mike could have refused. The point is there needs to be money for everyone to come back and a few new FAs and draft picks. This is called business. Glad you’re not the GM of anything.
March 5th, 2024 at 5:24 pm
Mike has always been a team player. Money hasn’t changed that dude. Gotta love it.
March 5th, 2024 at 5:26 pm
It tells you they not winning a Superbowl anytime soon lol 😂😆
March 5th, 2024 at 5:42 pm
Sign Baker and pencil in 1100+ yds & 10+ TDs…. Again. Man, it must get boring.
March 5th, 2024 at 7:09 pm
Joe how do I get your articles whan they first post
March 5th, 2024 at 10:12 pm
I always thought “Not likely to be reached” was a sum that would be returned to the cap space the following year, unless they actually reach the milestones.
March 5th, 2024 at 10:17 pm
Donald G Says:
March 5th, 2024 at 7:09 pm
“Joe how do I get your articles whan they first post”
The website uses WordPress, a system which used to also include an rss news feed. If the current version of WordPress still does, you should be able to set up your email to receive articles…or find an app that allows you to pull in rss feeds from multiple websites.
March 5th, 2024 at 10:18 pm
I don’t know if JBF has an rss feed though, and its been 15 yearssince I programme wordpress.
March 5th, 2024 at 11:34 pm
I must be on a different wavelength than the media folks. I always assumed the $52M for 2 years was not fully guaranteed and probably had incentives that include % game played and hitting yards and TD targets. With Baker, Russell Wilson or Kirk Cousin in the mix, he should easily hit the incentive marks. With Justin Fields (Tim Teebow with speed and not a lot of victories) or Kyle Trask, he may sweat a little hit those targets and keeping the 1,000 yard a year streak alive.
March 5th, 2024 at 11:55 pm
This offense revolves around Evans.
March 6th, 2024 at 12:50 am
In Licht I trust!
This front office … is underrated good! Dare I say very good!
March 6th, 2024 at 1:12 am
David Says:
March 5th, 2024 at 5:42 pm
Sign Baker and pencil in 1100+ yds & 10+ TDs…. Again. Man, it must get boring.
——–
He had 1050 yards and 12 TDs with Mike Glennon — and that was in 16 games, not 17.
Mike can make anyone look good, that’s why he’s a future HOFer.