The Tampa Bay Buccaneers intend to make another run at the Super Bowl. With this in mind, the franchise approached Pro Bowl wideout Mike Evans with a contract restructure offer.
According to multiple reports, the Bucs hope that Evans will rework his deal and help the team to get some badly-need cap space. The Buccaneers currently have only around $270K in cap space.
The Athletic’s Greg Auman reports that Evans already accepted the restructure and will have part of his $12.25 million salary converted to a signing bonus. This will significantly lower the 28-year-old player’s $16.637 million cap hit, which is the highest on the entire roster, and could open close to $9 million in cap space for Tampa Bay.
Evans has three more years left on the five-year, $82.5 million contract extension he inked with Tampa back in 2017.
The extra money that the Buccaneers get from restructuring Evans’ deal will most likely be used for in-season spending. This could include acquiring replacements for injured players or signing impact players released by other teams at some point in the season.
Mike Evans entered the league as the Buccaneers’ No. 7 pick in 2014 and has been the focal point of the team’s offense ever since. In each of his seasons as a pro, he managed 1,000+ yards while also totaling 532 receptions and 61 touchdowns. Evans has three Pro Bowl nods and one Second-team All-pro selection.
