The Tampa Bay Buccaneers lost Mike Evans early in their Monday Night Football game against the Baltimore Ravens back in Week 7. He’s now missed three consecutive games with a hamstring strain. What is the latest on Evans’ injury? Is the Bucs WR1 nearing a return?
What Is Mike Evans’ Injury?
Before the Bucs’ Week 7 game against the Ravens, Evans had been dealing with a relatively minor hamstring issue. Throughout his career, Evans has often been on the injury report but rarely actually misses games.
First entering the league as part of the historically great 2014 WR class, Evans had missed a mere seven games due to injury before his most recent multi-game absence. It’s been an impressive feat of durability.
Unfortunately, this hamstring strain was too severe to play through.
#MikeEvans @Buccaneers
Aggravates hamstring and drops 2nd TD pass
Too locker room and likely done
Both WR1 #BALvsTB injured pic.twitter.com/8b3rkbD5eh— David J. Chao – ProFootballDoc (@ProFootballDoc) October 22, 2024
Missing Week 10 marked Evans’ third consecutive game out due to injury. It’s the longest continuous absence of his career. The big question now is whether Evans will be able to return following the Bucs Week 11 bye.
When Will Evans Return From Injury?
The timing of Evans’ injury was both terrible and fortuitous. Given a 3-4 week timeline, having the bye at the tail end of that could end up meaning one fewer game Evans has to miss.
However, Evans going down right before a three-game gauntlet against the Atlanta Falcons, Kansas City Chiefs, and San Francisco 49ers was less than ideal. Despite playing well in all three games, the Bucs won none of them.
SEE MORE: NFL Injury Report
Adding injury to injury was the team losing Chris Godwin at the very end of the same game in which they lost Evans. There’s only so much Baker Mayfield can do with a bubble-gum-and-glue WR corps.
We have not gotten any concrete updates on Evans’ recovery. However, this could be a case of no news is good news. On Nov. 10, he spoke to reporters about his potential return.
Bucs wide receiver Mike Evans said it’s been “extremely tough” watching his team battle through the toughest part of their schedule without him. He said of Baker Mayfield: “I can’t wait to get back out there to help him make more plays.” pic.twitter.com/ecMdxg2jEV
— JennaLaineESPN (@JennaLaineESPN) November 10, 2024
Evans seems to be doing much better. While we have seen teams exercise extreme caution with injuries, such as the Houston Texans holding out a fully healthy Nico Collins in Week 10, just to be safe, the Bucs cannot afford such luxuries.
Their season is on the brink of collapse and Mayfield desperately needs his WR1 back. We should be cautiously optimistic that Evans will make his return in Week 12 against the New York Giants.
How Has Evans’ Absence Impacted the Buccaneers?
Evans and Godwin accounted for 49% of their receiving yards this season before getting injured. With both of them out, guys like Jalen McMillan and Sterling Shepard were expected to step up. Unfortunately, both of them have also dealt with hamstring injuries, leading to Trey Palmer, Ryan Miller, and Rakim Jarrett seeing increased playing time.
Given the challenges at WR, the coaching staff has opted to lean on more trustworthy pass-catchers. Cade Otton and Rachaad White have been asked to do more as receivers in Evans’ absence.
After averaging 5.2 targets per game through the first six weeks of the season, Otton has seen a whopping 39 targets over his last four games.
It’s been a similar story for White, who has earned at least six targets in three of the team’s last four games. He has four receiving touchdowns over that span.