TAMPA, Fla. – Buc WR Mike Evans is on his way to the Pro Football Hall of Fame, but make no mistake about it, while he’s still playing, he credits Tom Brady for putting his career and the entire Bucs organization over the top.
“He (Tom Brady) loves the game of football and most of us love the game of football,” Evans said. “He takes care of his body, makes sure he’s doing the little things. It has rubbed off on everybody and poured into this franchise.”
Evans, now in his 9th NFL season, all with Tampa Bay, is the only player in NFL history to start his career with 8 straight 1000-yard seasons. Evans is looking forward to playing with some new receivers this season that have experience, like Russell Gage and another possible Hall of Famer in Julio Jones.
“He’s (Julio Jones) a guy I’ve watched a lot over my career,” Evans said. “We were in the same offense when Dirk Koetter (former Bucs head coach and Falcons offensive coordinator) came here. He’s probably the most film I’ve watched of certain players since I’ve been in the league. He’s an unbelievable player. It’s cool talking to him–add another great player.”
Tom Brady has called Evans one of the best wide receivers he’s ever played with. Brady now has a number of talented receivers to throw to but as always, just takes it one practice at a time and doesn’t want to throw too much praise any player’s way as the Bucs get ready for the season.
“They’re all working hard,” Brady said. Obviously, we’ve got a lot of really great professionals that have great work ethics and know how to play the game. Those guys are coming out to work every day. so there are tough conditions out here.”
Evans, who is from Galveston Texas says he’s used to the heat, but this training camp in Tampa is the hottest he’s ever experienced.
“It’s just different here,” Evans said.
Evans has molded his diet more to what Brady does although not all the way to full-blown TB12 mode. Evans believes it’s giving him more energy to last over the course of the long NFL season.
In Evans’ 8 years with the Bucs, he has 606 catches for 9,301 yards and 75 touchdowns. Evans says it was hard to stay motivated when the Bucs were losing and he doesn’t take a day without being thankful for Brady coming to Tampa Bay and unretiring this offseason.
“He (Tom) loves it and doesn’t take any of it for granted,” Evans said. “He handles losses well and he handles wins well. He just wants to be the best he can be week in and week out, year in and year out. He makes sure he takes care of his body, makes sure he’s doing the little things.”
Evans at just 28 years old looks to have several more years playing, but in the way Brady approaches it, he says he’s only looking at this year, In fact, just going game to game.
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