In case you’ve been sleeping under a rather sizable rock that also happened to lack wifi, you might’ve heard Tom Brady decided to swiftly end his first stint in NFL free agency by signing with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, having only one demand of the team in the process; . What you haven’t heard yet, however, is how All-Pro wide receiver Mike Evans feels about it. It’s a foregone conclusion the 26-year-old would be elated at the thought of catching passes from a six-time Super Bowl winning quarterback, and that is very much the case, with Evans — it apparently just hasn’t sunk in yet.
After all, he’s spent the last five seasons of his six-season NFL career playing with longtime friend Jameis Winston, and this is a massive changing of the guard in Central Florida. And while several of Brady’s new teammates have voiced their elation via social media, Evans has been absent in that regard, but don’t treat his silence as anything but simply that.
In a recent Twitch session, while he enjoyed a game of Fortnite, he finally said his piece.
“It’s surreal,” Evans said, via The Tampa Bay Times. “He’s about to be my quarterback, man. I know you don’t know football like that, but I’ve played six years in the NFL, and I haven’t been to the playoffs yet. Tom Brady has won six Super Bowls.”
Evans even had a toast to the news.
“Bro, I’ve been on that Hennessy, man,” he said. “I’m drinking — I’ve got Tom Brady, you know what I’m saying?”
Winston is still believed by some to be a QB with potential, despite his historically bad 2019 season that saw him rack up 33 interceptions to 30 touchdowns. Although Brady himself had a down year in his final year with the New England Patriots, many attribute that to a lack of talent around him, and the 42-year-old was often seen pleading with his wide receivers to give better effort and to produce when the team needed it most. Neither of those things ever happened, and Brady’s production took a big hit because of it — en route to the Patriots being upset by the Tennessee Titans in the AFC wild card.
Head coach Bruce Arians and general manager Jason Licht believe with a player like Evans as Brady’s top receiving weapon, he’ll return to form in 2020. Evans hasn’t had a single season below 1,000 yards in six campaigns and is only one season removed from a career-best 1,524-yard explosion. Brady hasn’t had that sort of talent on hand in years, and the two should have no trouble hitting the ground running.
There’s also a reported bank run on Tampa by free agents champing at the bit to play alongside Brady, so that also helps.
Unlike the gun-slinging Winston, Brady’s surgical approach to offense is what’s garnered him not only the aforementioned six Super Bowl rings, but also four Super Bowl MVP awards, 14 Pro Bowl nods, three league MVP honors, five All-Pro designations, and a slew of other salutes. That’s a resume Winston — along with every other quarterback in NFL history — can only dream of, and now it’s the one behind center throwing passes to Evans.
So, yes, we know precisely what he’s saying.
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