Will Buccaneers franchise tag Mike Evans before he can reach free agency?

The agents for Mike Evans recently revealed that the Tampa Bay Buccaneers star wide receiver, who is on track to reach free agency when the new league year opens on March 11, plans to play next season.

He will "explore his options" once he can speak with all teams at the start of the NFL's legal tampering period on March 9. Over the weekend, Buccaneers reporter Jenna Laine of ESPN shared whether the club will consider retaining Evans' rights for 2026 via the franchise tag before the March 3 deadline for teams to use that asset arrives.

Why Buccaneers are making this franchise-tag decision for Mike Evans

"Could the Bucs franchise tag Evans? Technically, yes, but the feeling inside the organization is that Evans has given 12 seasons to the team, and he deserves to have agency over where he spends the remaining years of his career," Laine wrote. "They also have to weigh whether the move would make sense financially, considering they'd have to pay him $27-28M for one year when he was averaging $20.5M on his last deal."

Evans has played only for the Buccaneers since they made him the seventh overall pick of the 2014 NFL Draft, and the 32-year-old has cemented himself as one of the greatest overall players in franchise history. That said, the one-time Super Bowl champion was limited to just eight games this past season after he suffered a broken collarbone in October, and his streak of recording at least 1,000 receiving yards in a campaign ended at 11.

In total, Evans tallied career lows in regular-season games played, receptions (30) and receiving yards (368). One can't help but wonder what he will and/or won't be coming off such a frustrating year.

Why Mike Evans may ultimately re-sign with Buccaneers

According to Laine, playing under recently hired Tampa Bay offensive coordinator Zac Robinson "could appeal to Evans, considering that Robinson worked with Tampa Bay's previous offensive coordinator, Liam Coen, who kept finding ways to scheme Evans open." Laine added that Evans "likes the makeup of" the Buccaneers locker room and "genuinely loves the Bucs' receiving corps." 

That said, the 2025 Buccaneers went from 6-2 to 7-9 en route to missing the playoffs. If Evans isn't convinced the Bucs are one solid offseason away from assembling a roster that can do more than simply qualify for the postseason, he could look to chase a second career Super Bowl ring with a different team later this year.