Buccaneers
Buccaneers WR Mike Evans is one of two players to ever record six straight 1,000-yard seasons to start their careers. The other is Randy Moss. So Evans is predictably excited to catches passes from the guy throwing to Moss when he broke the receiving touchdowns record in 2007 — Tom Brady — even if he had a special bond with his former quarterback for the past five seasons, Jameis Winston.
“Bro, you played receiver, bro. Obviously, I’m excited,” Evans told former NFL WR Louis Murphy in an Instagram video chat via Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times. “Like, Jameis is my dawg. That’s going to be my bro forever, right? That’s going to be my bro forever. Like I wish him nothing but the best. Look, he’s been my quarterback for as long as I’ve played football. He’s been my quarterback for five seasons. My rookie year, he was still in college. I played with Josh and Mike G. Josh McCown and Mike G(lennon). I liked them, too. But I’ve been with Jameis for five seasons. The most of my career. I played with Johnny Manziel for two seasons. But I’ve known him for three. So [Winston] has been the most I’ve been with as far as at quarterback, so I’m always going to have love and respect for Jameis. I think he’s a hell of a player.
“If we didn’t get Tom? Then obviously we were going to keep Jameis. I don’t know for sure. I’m not the G.M. I’m not a coach. Obviously, I wanted Jameis back because that’s my bro. The opportunity to get Tom Brady. Like, that’s Tom Brady, bro. Like that’s the greatest of all-time. He’s franchise changer. Like he’s about to change the franchise. Like, ticket sales are going through the roof. Like prime time games. And he understands the game of football to nobody else understands that level besides the greats and it’s going to be great to work with him, you understand what I’m saying. The young receiving corps we got, the tight ends we’ve got, we’ve got Gronk coming in, . . .it’s going to be great for the city. And it’s going to be just great overall. Hopefully we have a great season, everybody stays healthy and it pans out the way we want.”
Panthers
While a running joke in football circles is defensive backs are former receivers who couldn’t catch, in the case of Panthers seventh-round CB Stantley Thomas-Oliver there’s some truth. Thomas-Oliver was third on the team in catches and receiving yards as a freshman but slid down the depth chart as a sophomore because of inconsistent hands. One day, FIU HC Butch Davis was watching Thomas-Oliver play cornerback as the receivers did extra work after practice and thought he looked like a natural. He suggested the position switch to Thomas-Oliver, who embraced the change and grew into a two-year starter.
“Never one time did he ever pout around because of being moved over and all that stuff,” Davis said via Myles Simmons of the team website. “The day he went over there and he changed the color of the jersey in practice, he was locked in and he wanted to try to dominate — because he wanted to play. Stantley would pick out the best guy on the team and he was always trying to go against the best receiver — whether it was one-on-ones, competitive situations like that, blitz drills. Even when he didn’t really know what he was doing, he still wanted to go against the best players.”
Seahawks
Seahawks WR D.K. Metcalf had to be patient during the draft last year, as he slipped all the way to the final pick of the second round. But it ended up paying off, as he landed in Seattle when the Seahawks traded up to draft him. He was advised to keep being patient by former Seahawks DB Maurice Kelly during his first rookie meeting, and that paid off as well. Metcalf got better and better each week during an impressive rookie year.
“I think Mo told us in our rookie meeting: ‘Don’t sit nowhere. Let everybody come in first and sit down. Then you find your seat last,'” Metcalf said via Rob Maaddi of the Associated Press. “So that really set the tone for the year and how to approach everything. Just wait my turn and soak up as much knowledge from the vets as I could.”
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