The Tampa Bay Buccaneers were among the most disappointing teams of the 2025 NFL season. After looking like a potential contender, the franchise missed the playoffs outright, with injuries and a dreadful defense spelling doom.
Unfortunately, the offseason hasn’t been a rousing success so far. Moreover, it has also seen an icon and franchise legend, Mike Evans, part ways with the team. For head coach Todd Bowles, who appeared to be on the hot seat late in the year, losing an integral piece was a tough pill to swallow.
Mike Evans Leaves Major Hole for Todd Bowles
Starting the season 6-2, it looked like the Buccaneers were well on their way to another postseason berth and potentially making a deep run as well. However, from that point forward, the season fell apart completely.
A major drawback was the defense, which ranked in the bottom half of the league on PFSN’s Defense Impact Metric. Additionally, injuries ravaged their roster, including quarterback Baker Mayfield. As a result, he finished as the 24th-ranked quarterback in the league according to PFSN’s QB Impact Metric.
It was ultimately too much for Tampa Bay to overcome, which lost seven of its last nine games, and the Carolina Panthers won the division. To make matters worse, they received a major blow over the summer.
Evans, who spent 12 seasons with the franchise, tallying an NFL record 11 consecutive seasons with more than 1,000 receiving yards, left for a new team for the first time in his career, signing with the San Francisco 49ers on a three-year, $42.4 million contract.
Outside of Ricky Pearsall, who only played in nine games, no wide receiver on the 49ers finished inside the top-50 of PFSN’s WR Impact Metric. As a result, Evans gives them an extremely reliable veteran to keep their playoff hopes alive.
But for the Buccaneers, it has severely hurt their wide receiver depth. Making an appearance on “The Rich Eisen Show,” Bowles was candid about the shock of losing Evans during free agency.
“It was a huge loss,” Bowles said. “Everybody felt it. Somebody that’s been with your organization forever and holds all the records offensively, and the presence he had on and off the field to all the guys on the team. That was a big blow from that standpoint.”
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During the second half of the year, Bowles felt immense pressure for his job. Calling out his locker room, the defensive meltdown played a big role in his scrutiny. During that nine-game stretch, the Buccaneers gave up more than 25 points per game.
With no Evans on the roster in 2026, the onus was going to fall on the other wide receivers and the defense to carry a bigger load to keep Tampa Bay afloat in a jam-packed NFC. But, even with that pressure, Bowles did not place blame on the six-time Pro Bowler.
“We understand he’s got himself in a position to make that type of decision, and we had to respect that as well,” Bowles added. “And we all love Mike here. He knows how we feel about him. We’ll always feel that way about him.”
It remains to be seen how the Buccaneers look without their premier veterans and biggest contributors. But they are now turning the page on a legendary career, and its impact could be felt all throughout the 2026 season.
