Mike Evans went into the offseason as one of the NFL’s top free agents. He was 11th on PFT’s list of top-100 free agents.
The receiver, though, never reached free agency.
The Buccaneers re-signed him to a two-year, $52 million deal on March 4, six days before the legal tampering period.
Evans revealed Sunday that he would have strongly considered the Texans or the Chiefs had he hit the market.
“I mean, in the back of my mind, I’m thinking Houston, Kansas City,” Evans told NFL Media. “I love Pat Mahomes’ game. I’m thinking those two teams. And I’m obviously thinking the Bucs.”
Houston is 51 miles from his hometown of Galveston and 93 miles from College Station, where he played his college football at Texas A&M. As big of a lure as that was, and playing with either C.J. Stroud in Houston, or playing with Mahomes was, Evans’ goal always has been to finish his career with the Buccaneers.
They drafted him in the first round in 2014, and he’s now the only player in NFL history to log 10 consecutive 1,000-yard receiving seasons to start his career.
“I mean, I’ve been here my whole career,” Evans said. “And that was a goal of mine, obviously. . . . It would’ve been extremely hard, if I hit free agency, to leave here. But this is where my family knows. My kids were born here. My wife’s been here a long time.”
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