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Pewter Report’s Scott Reynolds answers your questions from the @PewterReport Twitter account each week in the Bucs Mailbag. Submit your question to the Bucs Mailbag each week via Twitter using the hashtag #PRMailbag.  Here are the Bucs questions we chose to answer for this week’s edition.

QUESTION: Where does Mike Evans rank in terms of the best Bucs in franchise history? All of the team’s Hall of Famers are defensive players.

ANSWER: That is a fact. All five of the true Buccaneers who are in the Pro Football Hall of Fame – Lee Roy Selmon, Warren Sapp, Derrick Brooks, John Lynch and Ronde Barber – are defensive players. What makes Mike Evans special is that he will be the first Buccaneer on the offensive side of the ball to become a Hall of Famer in time.

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

Evans turns 30 in August and would seem to have at least four more really productive seasons in him. If he can reach 1,000 yards per season over the next four years as he done over the past nine years Evans, will have 14,425 career receiving yards. That will move him into 10th place on the NFL’s all-time receiving yards list ahead of Reggie Wayne (14,345 yards) and just behind Marvin Harrison (14,580 yards). Evans would undoubtedly be recognized as one of the game’s best wide receivers, but he’s already considered the best offensive player in Tampa Bay history.

Evans has rewritten the Bucs’ record books from the receiver position, and his 81 career touchdowns in the regular season has propelled him past legendary fullback and Bucs Ring of Honor inductee Mike Alstott. Once he’s inducted into the Hall of Fame, I think Evans will rank fifth on the list of all-time Bucs behind the likes of Sapp, Brooks, Barber and Selmon, and ahead of Lynch.

Sapp, Brooks and Selmon have all been named the NFL Defensive Player of the Year before. While Sapp and Brooks have the Super Bowl ring that Selmon doesn’t have, No. 63 is still the team’s all-time leading sacker. But Barber is the best defensive back in Tampa Bay history, the team’s all-time leading interceptor and has the greatest play in franchise history. That gives him the edge over Selmon and Lynch.

Evans, Barber and Lynch each have one Super Bowl ring, but Evans gets the nod over Lynch because of all his offensive team records in Tampa Bay, and the fact that he’s the only NFL receiver to start his career with nine straight 1,000-yard seasons. Once Evans is in Canton, I think there’s a strong argument for him being the No. 5 Buccaneer in franchise history.

QUESTION: Any idea or further news on when the Mike Evans contract extension could happen? Make him a Buc for life!

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

ANSWER: A contract extension for Bucs star receiver Mike Evans is coming – soon. As Pewter Report has reported before, look for a new deal before the start of the season during training camp. Evans has a salary cap hit of $23,698,500, and the Bucs could use some of that cap space to sign the team’s practice squad and some in-season emergency fill-ins when injuries strike. A contract extension could reduce Evans’ $23 million salary and clear around $10 million worth of cap room for the Bucs.

This may be one of the most anticipated contract extensions in Tampa Bay in some time due to Evans’ immense popularity among Bucs fans. Evans has become a franchise cornerstone and has cemented himself as the team’s best weapon, just surpassing Mike Alstott. The A-Train was immensely popular back in the late 1990s and early 2000s, and Evans has risen to that level of popularity over the last decade, which has been fun to see.

Any new deal will likely come with a few voidable years to spread out the salary cap impact, but should have three or four “real years” that should allow Evans to retire as a Buccaneer, which would make everyone happy. Only a few of the team’s greats – including Hall of Famers Lee Roy Selmon, linebacker Derrick Brooks and Ronde Barber – got a chance to only play for Tampa Bay in their careers. The same can be said for Bucs legends like Paul Gruber and Alstott, too. So Evans retiring as a Buccaneer would truly be special.

QUESTION: Are there any unique expectations for this year’s training camp?

ANSWER: Unique expectations? I don’t think there are any expectations that are unique for this team as training camp approaches. The Bucs want to win the NFC South again, win in the playoffs and advance to the Super Bowl and win that. The expectations shouldn’t change as long as Tampa Bay has the talent to truly compete, which it has.

Bucs QBs Baker Mayfield and Kyle Trask – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

What will be different this year in training camp will be an actual training camp competition. That’s something that hasn’t happened in decades. Jeff Garcia was signed to become the starter during the 2007 and 2008 seasons. Former first-round pick Josh Freeman was the team’s quarterback from 2009 until midway through the 2013 season. Then, Josh McCown was signed to be the starter for Lovie Smith in 2014, followed by the drafting of Jameis Winston with the first overall pick in 2015. Tom Brady replaced Winston as the starter in 2020.

The Bucs really haven’t had an open competition since maybe Brian Griese and Chris Simms back in the mid-2000s under Jon Gruden. And even then, it was really Griese’s job to lose due to his experience. That’s similar to what is happening this year with veteran Baker Mayfield and the unproven Kyle Trask. It’s really Mayfield’s job to lose.

The other new element is the new offense being installed by new offensive coordinator Dave Canales. The Bucs have been using Bruce Arians’ playbook since 2019. So this will be a refreshing change for both the offensive players, who are tasked with learning a new system with new concepts and philosophies, and the defensive players, who had grown accustomed to seeing Arians’ offense every training camp for the past four years.

QUESTION: What is the plan for Ko Kieft in the new offense? It seems like there’s so much potential there if he can become even an average pass catcher. Obviously nowhere near this level, but he can be a George Kittle-style player. Maybe even a fullback role?

Bucs TE Ko Kieft – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

ANSWER: Comparing Ko Kieft to Pro Bowl tight end George Kittle seems like a pretty big stretch. Kittle is a much better athlete and faster, in addition to being an elite receiving tight end. Tampa Bay’s Ko Kieft is a blocker first and foremost. He recorded just seven receptions for 80 yards and a touchdown last season after only notching just 12 receptions for 166 yards and two touchdowns during his entire four years at the University of Minnesota.

With the Bucs drafting another receiving tight end in Payne Durham to pair with Cade Otton, it seems like Kieft’s primary role will still be that of a blocking tight end. However, Bucs offensive coordinator Dave Canales has been impressed with Kieft’s development as a receiver and is finding more ways to use the 6-foot-5, 265-pounder, including as a fullback.

“I had a lot of fun with Ko, just putting him in different spots, and the different things he can do is pretty rare,” Canales said on the Pewter Report Podcast. “Knowing that we don’t have the traditional fullback on our roster, but he can do all those things, plus play in-line.”