The Top 100 spectacle continues to monopolize the NFL landscape. On the seventh day of the countdown, NFL Network revealed the players featured in this year’s 30-21 grouping. Buccaneers’ wide receiver Mike Evans came in at No. 26, his best grade to date and highest since 2017, where he landed at No. 29. He joins teammates Lavonte David (99), Tristan Wirfs (85) and Antoine Winfield Jr. (46) on this year’s compilation. Evans continues to defy convention, aging backwards.
The jump-ball specialist is in rare air. Evans has 10 consecutive seasons with 1,000-plus receiving yards to begin his career, the longest-such streak in NFL archives. He led the NFL with 13 touchdown receptions last season, in addition to ranking eighth in yards per reception (16.2) and 10th in receiving yards (1,233). Evans’ 10 total 1,000-yard receiving seasons tied Randy Moss (10) for the second-most in league history, trailing only Jerry Rice’s 14. Through a player’s first 10 career seasons, Evans is tied for fifth in touchdown receptions (94) and sixth in receiving yards (11,658). He is one of four players with 11,000-plus receiving yards and 90-plus touchdown receptions through 10 seasons, along with a trio of Hall of Famers in Marvin Harrison, Moss and Rice. Evans also became the first player in league history to amass 60-or-more receptions in each of his first 10 career seasons.
Throughout his career, with a revolving door at quarterback and various offensive coordinators, Evans’ production on the gridiron has remained constant. He is a matchup nightmare and routinely commands double teams. The physically imposing receiver is a chain mover. Evans could put on a clinic with his lethal release package and is a cheat code on executing back-shoulder catches. Defensive coordinators around the NFL are forced to ask, “Where is 13 lined up?” Evans makes contested catches look effortless and has cemented his legacy in NFL lore, one worthy of immortality in Canton.
“Mike Evans, HOF (Hall of Fame), it’s incredible watching him come out here every day and fly around,” said Tristan Wirfs.
