The Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ offense was firing on all cylinders on Sunday in Inglewood, California during the Bucs’ 40-17 win over the Los Angeles Chargers, and there’s no doubt that QB Baker Mayfield and WR Mike Evans were two of the pistons.
Evans hauled in 9 passes for 159 yards and two touchdowns, including a 57-yard score that marked the longest play from scrimmage by the Buccaneers this season.
In the process, Evans moved into the top 25 in NFL history in career receiving yards. The man he passed? Former Buccaneer Antonio Brown.
That’s quite the accomplishment for Evans, and bumping his former Super Bowl LV champion teammate out of the list is quite an ironic result.
However, Evans didn’t stop at 25, moving up to 24 by the end of the contest. Evans first passed both former Jacksonville Jaguars receiver Jimmy Smith before moving past Brown. He would also pass former Denver Broncos star Brandon Marshall for 24th place.
Next up for Evans is former Washington Redskins standout and Pro Football Hall of Famer Art Monk, who has 12,721 yards. Evans sits at 12,429 after Sunday, putting him less than 300 yards from moving up again.
With the way Evans – who has 749 receiving yards this season despite missing a handful of games with a hamstring injury – is on fire lately, that seems like a completely feasible goal to reach. And if that was to happen, then Evans would extend his streak of 1000+ yard seasons to 11, which seemed very dubious after he aggravated his sore hamstring in a loss to the Ravens back on October 21.
Evans continues to climb key career statistical charts – things that matter to the Hall of Fame voters. He’s #9 in all-time career touchdowns with a chance to move up next season. It’s not a matter of if but of when Evans gets the call from Canton. The higher he gets, the harder it will be to deny him entry as soon as he’s eligible.