Will Bucs WR Evans Post A Ninth 1,000-Yard Season?

Former Tampa Bay head coach Bruce Arians made it a point to make sure Evans got 1,000 yards each season he led the Bucs. Evans had 1,006 yards in 2020 and then 1,035 yards last season.

Current Bucs head coach Todd Bowles is heavily in favor of Evans continuing his streak of 1,000-yard seasons, but wants to make sure that coincides with the team’s primary objective of reaching the playoffs by winning the NFC South championship. The Bucs currently lead the division with a 6-7 record.

“It would be great to have, but … our priority is trying to get in the playoffs, and hopefully it comes within that realm,” Bowles said.

Bucs’ Evans Off His TD Pace From Years Past

While Evans has a chance to extend his streak of 1,000-yard seasons, he’s far from matching his record for touchdown catches in a single season. He only has three touchdowns in 2022 and hasn’t found the end zone since Week 4 when he did so twice against Kansas City in a 41-31 loss on Sunday Night Football. Evans had a 68-yard touchdown negated by a holding call on left tackle Donovan Smith in last week’s 35-7 loss at San Francisco.

The Bucs’ former first-round pick set a new franchise record with 12 touchdowns as a rookie in 2014 and matched that in 2016, which was his first Pro Bowl season. He broke that record with 13 TDs in 2020 and then set a new mark with 14 last year, which was his fourth Pro Bowl season.

For some reason, the connection between Evans and quarterback Tom Brady has been off this year. Pewter Report’s Josh Queipo chronicled that in a recent article.

In Sunday’s loss to the 49ers Brady had bad low throw to Evans, who was open in the end zone on a fourth-and-goal play.

“I wouldn’t say it’s just really Mike or Tom,” Bucs offensive coordinator Byron Leftwich said of Brady and Evans’ misfires. “I just think we got to do a better job offensively connecting on everything, just making sure we’re communicating well, making sure we’re really all on the same page. So, put a lot of work in throughout the week. Things happen on Sunday. But just football, really. It’s not really Mike and Tom, it’s just really us as a group, we’ve got to do a better job of just making plays, executing, coaching better, all of the above really to get better results.”