5 Things About Mike Evans Leaving The Bucs

Scott Reynolds offers up his analysis with five things about Mike Evans’ departure from Tampa Bay. Evans signed a three-year deal with San Francisco worth $42.4 million with $16.3 million in guaranteed money. Pewter Report has learned that there is a chance the third year is a dummy year, which would make the deal a two-year deal worth $40 million, but we cannot confirm it at this time.

1. Mike Evans Leaving The Bucs Was Not About The Money – Really

A lot of times when players and agents tell the media and fans “it’s not about the money” – it is about the money. But this was not in the case in Mike Evans’ departure from Tampa Bay. Originally reported as a three-year deal to San Francisco for $60 million, Ari Meirov came out with the real numbers, which have to be quite sobering for Bucs fans. Evans, who made just over $20 million in each of the last two seasons, signed with the 49ers for an average of $14.3 million per season. Surely the Bucs offered to at least match that – if not offer much more.

Pewter Report heard that the Bucs were prepared to offer $20 million per year again despite Evans missing nine games due to injury and the fact that he turns 33 in August. And keep in mind that the state of California has a 13.3% state income tax for individuals making over $1 million whereas Florida has no state income tax. So Evans will be making $1.879 million less – just in income tax – by playing for San Francisco than he would in Tampa Bay.

This proves that Evans simply wanted out of Tampa Bay at this stage of his career. He was done with the Buccaneers. Why would he leave behind a legacy in red and pewter for red and gold? Let’s look at a few other factors.

2. Kyle Shanahan vs. Todd Bowles

Mike Evans left the Bucs for the chance to play for another Super Bowl ring, and he undoubtedly believes that has a better chance happening with San Francisco rather than Tampa Bay. Since 2019 under head coach Mike Shanahan, the 49ers have had five playoff years out of the last seven seasons. And San Francisco has also made two trips to the Super Bowl in 2019 and 2023. Despite playing in a rugged NFC West division that fielded three playoff teams, including Los Angeles and Seattle, the eventual Super Bowl winner, Shanahan’s 49ers still went 12-5 last season.

Shanahan has produced a pair of 13-win seasons, a pair of 12-win seasons, and a 10-win season during his 49ers tenure. In eight seasons as a head coach, including the last four years in Tampa Bay, Todd Bowles has never won more than 10 games, and that’s only happened once with the Bucs in 2024. Bowles is also 1-3 in the playoffs while Shanahan is 9-5 in the postseason. Shanahan is 3-1 head-to-head versus Bowles.

By any measure, Shanahan is regarded as a much better head coach than Bowles is. Throw in the fact that Evans has played for four different offensive coordinators in four straight years in Tampa Bay under Bowles and he likely wanted some stability. Shanahan is one of the league’s best and most innovative play-callers and that had to be attractive to Evans, who wants to be a focal point in the passing game in 2026.

3. Third-And-28!

I don’t want to speak for Evans, but he had to have a sense that Todd Bowles and general manager Jason Licht were simply not going to be able to fix the Bucs defense enough over the next two seasons to put Tampa Bay in contention to compete for a Super Bowl. That seems like a big reason why he left. Evans has been a good soldier during his 12 years in Tampa Bay. Yet he’s never had an in-game outburst before like he had after the Bucs defense blew a third-and-28 (and a subsequent fourth-and-14) on the Falcons’ final, game-winning drive in Week 14. Outside of his annual fistfights with former Saints cornerback Marshon Lattimore, of course.

Evans was livid on the sidelines after watching the Bucs blow a 14-point lead in the final 10 minutes in the 29-28 loss on Thursday Night Football. He wasn’t screaming at quarterback Baker Mayfield for his off-target throw to Emeka Egbuka on Tampa Bay’s final drive. Nor was he yelling at offensive coordinator Josh Grizzard about his play-calling. Evans was mad at Bowles’ defense, and there is video evidence of that after the game where the distraught wide receiver was banging his helmet against the walls of Raymond James Stadium and yelling, “Third-and-28! Third-and-28!”

Now Evans goes to team up with a 49ers defense that was still more formidable than Bowles’ unit last year despite a slew of injuries under Robert Saleh, and is now led by new defensive coordinator Raheem Morris, who won a Super Bowl as the Rams defensive coordinator in 2021. One has to wonder what the Glazers must be thinking about their decision to retain Bowles, a very unpopular head coach, following an epic collapse that led to an 8-9 season – as that had to have played some factor in Evans leaving Tampa Bay.

4. New Number Coming For M1K3

With Evans going to San Francisco where quarterback Brock Purdy wears No. 13, the future Hall of Famer will likely have to switch to a different jersey number. Evans wore No. 13 in Tampa Bay and at Texas A&M, and wore No. 5 for his high school when he played for the Ball High School Tornadoes. Wide receiver Demarcus Robinson currently wears No. 5 for the 49ers, and of course Evans could make him a sizeable cash offer for that number if he really wanted it.

But one jersey number that is currently open in San Francisco is No. 12. That’s the number that Evans’ former teammate, Chris Godwin, wore in Tampa Bay from 2017-2020 until Tom Brady arrived. And then Brady teamed up with Godwin and Evans to help the Buccaneers win Super Bowl LV.

No. 14 is also open, so perhaps Evans would want to pay homage to Godwin by wearing that number in San Francisco. No. 14 is what’s next after No. 13, so maybe Evans is on to what’s next for him, which is playing for Mike Shanahan and the 49ers. San Francisco has a few No. 80s currently available – Nos. 83, 86 and 87 – but Evans wouldn’t look right wearing one of those numbers. Unless he took the 8 from Jerry Rice’s retired No. 80 jersey and the 3 from Evans’ own No. 13 jersey and settled on No. 83, showing respect for Rice in the process.

5. Who Replaces Mike Evans At X?

The Bucs don’t have a true big X receiver on the roster with Mike Evans’ departure. Evans’ big, 6-foot-5, 220-pound frame made him a mismatch outside as a split end or inside as a big slot, and there’s no other receiver on the team that is anywhere close to Evans’ size. Tampa Bay has three 6-foot-1 receivers in Chris Godwin Jr., Emeka Egbuka and Jalen McMillan with Godwin being the biggest at 209. But at age 30 and being slowed down by a fractured ankle in 2024, Godwin is strictly a slot receiver at this stage of his career.

Egbuka played some X last year while Evans missed nine games due to injury, but didn’t really thrive in that role, as he’s much better playing the Z receiver position as a flanker. Egbuka can also thrive in the slot and will ultimately be Godwin’s eventual replacement, whereas Tez Johnson is primarily a Z receiver. A team source tells me that McMillan is probably the best option at X for the time being, although he’s ideally a Z receiver, too.

It’s doubtful that the Bucs sign another receiver in free agency outside of the familiar Sterling Shepard, just to have another veteran presence with Evans’ departure. With Tampa Bay investing a third-round pick in McMillan in 2024, and a first-rounder and a seventh-rounder in Egbuka and Johnson last year, respectively, it’s doubtful the team spends another premium pick on a receiver this year, although Washington’s Denzel Boston, who is 6-foot-4, 209, would be an option in the first round in case the Bucs were inclined. He’s a classic X receiver.

The problem in Tampa Bay for the upcoming 2026 season is that the team truly has three good No. 2 receivers in Godwin, Egbuka and McMillan, and no true No. 1 receiver, which is what Evans was. This will be the first real challenge for new offensive coordinator Zac Robinson – designing a passing game that cobbles together production from multiple receivers rather than relying on a dominant 1,000-yarder.