While most of the Bucs Pro Bowl coverage has been about the player who didn’t make it, one player worthy of recognition did get his flowers. Wide receiver Mike Evans was one of the four NFC wide receivers named to the Pro Bowl team, along with Dallas’ CeeDee Lamb, Philadelphia’s A.J. Brown and Los Angeles’ Puka Nacua. Although it is Evans’ fifth selection to the annual game featuring some of the best the NFL has to offer, he still values the recognition.

Mike Evans Discusses Being Named To The Pro Bowl

Mike Evans said on Thursday that while he “likes individual accolades,” he doesn’t scream them out loud. He is the epitome of a player who lets his production on the field do the talking. Of course, it has spoken volumes this season.

Bucs WR Mike Evans – Photo by: USA Today

With one game left to go in the campaign, Evans has 76 catches for 1,233 receiving yards and a league-leading 13 touchdowns. These numbers made him more than deserving of being selected for the Pro Bowl.

“I’m very appreciative of the nod,” Evans said. “You know, I know there’s a lot of other deserving guys. I’m sure that they’ll get their call, but I’m appreciative.”

Although the Pro Bowl game has become a weekend of skills competitions capped off by a flag football game, it is still a fun environment that involves all the big NFL stars being in one place. That is part of the enjoyment of attending, after all.

“Yeah, it’s fun, being around the best players [and] guys that I watch their games,” Evans said. “I’m a fan of those guys as well, so I like being around those guys. Especially, now that I’m a little older, being around the young guys and seeing how much juice they have.”

If anything has been on display this season, it is that Mike Evans has just as much “juice” as the younger wave of wide receivers. That is a credit to his savviness at the position and how he continues finding ways to get open.

Mike Evans Continues To Find Ways To Get Open

Bucs offensive coordinator Dave Canales has gotten the chance to utilize Mike Evans within his offense this year, and he has enjoyed deploying him in various ways. Canales has gone on record for saying that Evans is the best wide receiver he has worked with and is a first-ballot Hall of Famer. While he possesses a litany of abilities, Evans’ football acumen is something that Canales really cannot quantify.

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

“There’s this football intelligence – we call it ‘FBI’ in the building – this football IQ where he just really knows how to stem routes and get himself open,” Canales said. “He’s so used to teams double-covering him, triple-covering him at times. For him to be able to find the right stem to get him access in the route and then finish at the top – it’s the craziest thing when you see teams double [cover] and then all of a sudden the quarterback starts to work the other side of the field and try to find a completion there.

“You watch the film later and he found a way to get open. He gives you confidence that he’s going to present himself at the right time. It’s all of those things that you can’t quantify and you can’t really just teach it all in a moment – it’s things that happen over time, over a career.”

“He’s Just Being Mike”

This accolade is just the latest boon to Mike Evans’ lengthy resume, but during a season of many highs and lows for the Bucs, the longtime star has never made things about himself. Instead, he just keeps playing and focusing on ball. It has paid off on the field, and it will likely help his bank account when he inks a new deal in the offseason.

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

“The competitiveness of the guy – he just keeps playing,” Canales said. “He just keeps finding a way to fight, to scrap. And [he is] really just a humble guy, too. There were games [where] he had every right to be frustrated and games that were hard for us and he never turned on the offense. He never made a big scene about Mike and these things.

“He just kept working and he found a way to get himself back to focus by the next drive. That’s been a blessing for me and something that I really respect out of him.”

Not only does his offensive coordinator see this on display, but wide receiver David Moore has been a front-row observer of the everyday consistency of Mike Evans.

“I would say the same thing we’ve seen since he came in the league,” Moore said. “[He’s] probably one of the only guys I know for sure that is as consecutive as he is. Stays on it every day, day in and day out. Doesn’t take a day off. He’s just being Mike, you know what I mean? The success he gets, it’s all earned, so it’s nothing given. He goes out there and does it every day, so the fact that he’s getting Pro Bowl, as he should, it is what it is.”

Canales mentioned that Mike Evans’ ability to stem routes and get open is part of what you cannot teach, and so is his instinct. Moore sees it – and it is something that the other wide receivers watch and learn.

“There’s a lot of things that we learn from him and take from him,” Moore added. “He just goes off instinct what he’s been doing for years. It’s like little-bitty things that can help everyone that you don’t normally see. Like what Dave [Canales] said, the whole stem, the stack, and creating separation, he’s probably the best at doing that. That’s just Mike Evans yo.”