Star wide receiver Mike Evans and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers remain 'far apart' on any new contract.
Evans is a pending free agent. The Buccaneers had a soft deadline on Monday afternoon to get a deal done.
Had the two parties agreed on a new deal by the deadline, Tampa would have saved $7.4 million against the 2024 salary cap.
Evans has restructured his contract numerous times in previous years. Those restructures have pushed dead money onto Tampa's salary cap bill for 2024, 2025 and 2026.
Tampa drafted Evans in the 2014 NFL Draft. He has played his whole career in Tampa and was pivotal to their Super Bowl-winning campaign in 2020-21.
The five-time Pro Bowl wideout is one of the greatest Tampa Bay Buccaneers ever. He is a club legend.
But it now seems inevitable that he will test free agency and consider offers from other teams.
That does not mean that his Tampa career is over. Evans could still return. It means that Tampa will have significant competition for his signature.
Evans enjoyed a stellar 2023-24 season. He led the league with 13 touchdowns and tallied over 1000 receiving yards. Despite now being 30, many teams will want Evans.
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