Throughout the years we’ve all seen in Tampa Bay how wide receiver Mike Evans has had a positive impact on his teammates that look up to him, especially at the same position. It doesn’t matter if it’s the likes of Chris Godwin and current teammate Jalen McMillan or former Bucs players like Scotty Miller and Tyler Johnson, they’ll all talk about the important figure that Mike Evans is.

It’s not just players on the Bucs that he’s assisting.

He’s lending a helping hand to a prospect in this year’s draft thanks to a mutual friend. Mike Evans and Miami wide receiver Samuel Brown have the same agent, Deryk Gilmore. Talking to Brown, who met informally with the Bucs at the NFL Combine, he said that he’s been in communication with Evans during this draft process.

Mike Evans Becomes A Mentor

“That’s pretty much my mentor right now,” Samuel Brown said of Mike Evans. Brown then discussed what it would be like teaming up with the Bucs’ Pro Bowl wide receiver.

Miami WR Samuel Brown – Photo by: USA Today

“It would be like big bro, little bro,” Brown added. “He’s pretty much leading me the way, I’d listen close to everything he did because he’s the most consistent receiver production-wise, year by year.”

Brown also discussed the advice that Evans gave him about going through this part of the draft process.

“Just take it day by day, don’t rush anything, make sure your head’s in the right space. Just treat it like a regular day, you’re here for a reason. Don’t question the reason you’re here and believe in the reason you’re here.”

Brown played five years of college football starting with two years at West Virginia, another two at Houston and then finished up at Miami with the Hurricanes. An athletic receiver with a good ability to gain yards after the catch, his best season came in 2023 at Houston where he recorded 62 catches for 815 yards and three touchdowns. In 2024 at Miami playing with Cam Ward, Brown had 36 catches for 509 yards and two scores.

Mike Evans’ Record Keeps Coming Up

Talking to other wide receivers at the NFL Combine, there seems to be a common trend when Mike Evans is brought up. Everyone immediately brings up his 1,000-yard receiving record as he holds the record with 11 straight 1,000-yard seasons to begin a career. He also has tied the record for most consecutive 1,000-yard seasons at any time in a career with Jerry Rice.

It started with Tai Felton, a Maryland product who met formally with the Bucs and was teammates with Bucs wide receiver Rakim Jarrett.

“It would be awesome,” Felton said of potentially playing with Evans. “Mike Evans had 1,000 yards every season he’s been in the league. It would be exciting, for sure.”

Bucs WR Mike Evans – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

Xavier Restrepo, a teammate of Samuel Brown for a season at Miami who also met informally with Tampa Bay, thought of how he could learn from the future Hall of Famer.

“Playing next to someone that has the most 1,000-yard receiving seasons, that would be awesome,” Restrepo said. “A lot to learn from.”

While several players bring up Evans’ 1,000-yard season claim to fame, Mike Evans has another category in which he could end up with the best. Currently, Evans is ninth all-time with 105 career receiving touchdowns. If we were to once again score 11 touchdowns like he did last season, that would put him at 116 and tie him with Antonio Gates at seventh all-time.

Evans has scored 24 touchdowns in the last two seasons. If he were to do that over the next two in 2025 and 2026 (if he keeps playing), that would have him at 129, just one ahead of Marvin Harrison for fifth all-time and one behind Cris Carter for fourth. Depending on how much longer Mike Evans wants to keep playing, he could reach fourth all-time in touchdowns and maybe even get into the territory of Terrell Owens at 153 and Randy Moss at 156.

There’s also a chance that Evans could get into the top 10 in career receiving yards, but that would require two more 1,000-yard seasons. Wherever he ends up in each category, he’ll have a career that many of these current prospects at the NFL Combine will aspire to have, t00.