Buccaneers

Buccaneers WR Mike Evans is undecided on retirement and recalls when his wife convinced him to remain with the team back in 2024.

“When I leave this game soon, I’m going to be happy with the receiving room that’s left in Tampa and excited to watch them have a great career and carry on the torch,” Evans said, via ESPN. “[She said] ‘Maybe we should stay in Tampa,’ And I was like, ‘I want to be in Tampa. And they offered me great money. It wasn’t even about the money — I just I wanted to see everything as a whole.”

Evans was asked how soon he would make his decision, with GM Jason Licht and QB Baker Mayfield weighing in on what he means to the franchise.

“It will be soon — even if it’s three, four more years I play. I played 12, so we’ll see. Time will tell.” Evans said.

“He’s an unprecedented player,” Licht said of Evans back in 2024. “We want him to be a Buc for life.”

“That fire — it just demands everybody to raise their standards,” Mayfield said of Evans. “We love that Mike is vocal about it. He obviously expects greatness out of himself and expects people to rise to the occasion as well.”

Falcons

Buccaneers QB Baker Mayfield commented on the perceived issues between himself and Falcons HC Kevin Stefanski stemming from their time together with the Browns.

“There’s stuff there, but it’s not like it’s beef,” Mayfield said, via NFL.com. “We’ve worked together; anytime you know somebody, you want to beat them, whether it’s a good or bad relationship. Not a revenge game of a sense of Atlanta, but we lost the division for the first time since four or five years, so, any divisional game will be a revenge game, I guess.”

Panthers 

Joseph Person of The Athletic examines the Panthers’ roster and possible moves they can make this offseason:

• Person lists DT A’Shawn Robinson as the team’s most likely cap-related cut, which will save them $10.5 million in cap and create $2.06 million in dead money. Person points out that Carolina already has a lot of money tied into their defensive line with Derrick Brown, Tershawn Wharton, and Bobby Brown.
• Person names QB Andy Dalton as a possible trade candidate, given the Panthers seem “intent” on upgrading the backup quarterback role. 
• Person has G Damien Lewis as an extension candidate after being among the team’s five highest graded offensive players by Pro Football Focus and only missing two starts in two years.
• Panthers TE Tommy Tremble is another extension candidate, given he’s the best blocking tight end on the team. 
• Although Person thinks CB Mike Jackson has a case to receive a bump in his salary, he points out that the cornerback is approaching his 30s and would be more costly to extend than someone like Tremble.