The New England Patriots have new head coach Jerod Mayo and a solid defense. However, little is known about what kind of offense the team will run. This is a huge deal. They ranked 31st in scoring and 30th in yardage last season. The Patriots have the 29th best offensive rating on Pro Football Focus’ grading scale at 63.4.
Addressing these issues should be a priority for the FA.The team needs a new quarterback and is moving to the offensive line. But the Patriots also need to address an area that has been too often overlooked in previous regimes: wide receiver. With that in mind, Bleacher Report rounds up the wide receiver market for this year’s free agent crop, forcing teams to make one of the league’s most enduring stars their top target as free agency opens: Buccaneers star Mike Evans.
Mike Evans had back-to-back 1,000-yard seasons.Few people have had a career like Evans. He caught 68 passes for 1,051 yards as a rookie in 2014, the first of 10 straight seasons in which Evans posted over 1,000 receiving yards. He has 762 catches for 11,680 yards in his career and shows no signs of slowing down at age 30. Evans has a league-leading 79 catches for 1,255 yards and 13 touchdowns this year. Not a bad start to a crime requiring identification. If the Patriots select Caleb Williams, Drake May or Jaden Daniels with the third pick in the NFL draft, landing Evans would be a huge boost for a potential starting quarterback. As analyst Joe Tansey said: “The Patriots have tried to land the No. 1 receiver in free agency in their previous efforts. They could have gone the draft route and taken (Marvin) Harrison at No. 3, but they should have at least made a big move for Mike Evans in free agency. …”Evans’ potential contract would allow the Patriots to pursue a quarterback or offensive tackle with the No.
3″.Needless to say, B/R doesn’t stop at wide receiver for the Patriots. Without Evans, the No. 2 player on the Patriots website’s wish list is Bengals wide receiver Tee Higgins. Michael Pittman of Indianapolis and Calvin Ridley of the Jaguars (both wide receivers) went third and fourth. The Patriots will have to pay through free agencyOf course, a word of caution for Evans won’t come cheap
He couldn’t agree to a contract extension with the Buccaneers before the season started, but he has a five-year, $82.5 million contract and is expected to get an even bigger deal as he ages. market. Spotrac estimates his market value at around $24 million with a four-year contract worth $95 million.Pro Football Focus puts him roughly in the same market range as Evans, with a three-year contract worth $69 million. After the Buccaneers lost to the Lions on Sunday (Evans had 147 yards and a touchdown), Evans talked about his future.
It won’t be easy for the Bucs to sign him as the team faces a tight salary cap. But he reiterated his desire to stay. “I said how much I love it here and how much I want to be here,” Evans said, via the Tampa Bay Times . “It would be nice to be able to do that because we don’t have a lot of guys in the same team, but we’ll have to wait and see. “I’m still trying to get over this loss.”Sean Devaney is a veteran sportswriter covering the NBA and NFL for Heavy.com.
He has been writing for Heavy since 2019 and has more than 20 years of NBA experience, including 17 years as a senior NBA reporter for Sporting News. Deveney is the author of seven books of fiction, including Fun Town, Before Wrigley Was Wrigley, and Facing Michael Jordan. More about Sean Deveney
