NFC Notes: Mike Evans, Buccaneers, Falcons, Panthers

Buccaneers

Buccaneers WR Mike Evans has had nine straight seasons with 1,000 receiving yards and plans to attempt to match the 11 straight posted by WR Jerry Rice, who is considered by most to be the best wide receiver in NFL history.

“I think about. It’s right there, so I’m gonna definitely try to go get that,” Evans told KPRC 2 Houston’s Ari Alexander. “I’m already one of one right now. I hope I can pass the great Jerry Rice and his record. Obviously, nobody will pass his records probably, like ever, total. But that 1,000-yard streak record would be cool to have. I should get 1,000 yards if I’m healthy. Every year. It ain’t that. I want to be one of the tops in the league. I want to be winning games. That’s what I care about.”

Evans also noted the improvement he has seen from former second-round QB Kyle Trask, who will be expected to compete for the starting job.

“Kyle’s improved a lot,” Evans said. “I’m really impressed with what I’ve seen from Baker. Whoever the quarterback will be, I’m positive they’re going to make the right choice and we’re going to win some games.”

Falcons

Falcons RB Tyler Allgeier was asked what first-round RB Bijan Robinson can learn from him but was quick to respond with what he could learn from Robinson. Falcons RB coach Michael Pitre was ready to give Allgeier credit, though, and pointed out a strength of Allgeier’s game is his ability after contact.

“When you look at Tyler, you look at his style of play,” Pitre said via Tori McElhaney of the team website. “He’s a physical guy. He’s a yards-after-contact guy. He does a great job of taking care of the ball, but he does have some sneaky elusiveness to him. Then, you look at Bijan, and he’s an elusive guy and he can do all these things catching the ball. But I think when you look at what Tyler can help Bijan with, it’s, ‘I can help you learn how to get yards after contact.’ Sometimes when you have a guy like Bijan who has so much elusiveness, they always want to make people miss, but I truly believe – and we believe – that we want to force people to have to tackle us.”

Pitre added that Allgeier will still be an integral part of the team’s offense due to his running style that gets harder to tackle as the game goes on.

“There’s a reason we have certain body types in that room,” Pitre said. “We want to force people to tackle us and do it over, and over, and over again. Because eventually we believe through our training and our preparation that we’ll be the ones standing at the end because we train a certain way.”

Panthers

Panthers CB Donte Jackson said fifth-round DB Jammie Robinson can be a hybrid defender for the team much like Saints DB Tyrann Mathieu.

“Jammie—pit bull,” Jackson said, via Panthers Wire. “He’s one of my favorite players in the DB room. One of my favorite guys to talk to. He’s just football, man. And that type of stuff you just can’t teach. He can be a difference maker early—like a Tyrann Mathieu hybrid. For real. Just the amount of ball he’s able to consume and the amount of positions he’s able to play—yeah, he can be a good player in the secondary for a long time.”