Mike Evans is no stranger to making history, and he did it once again in Week 5 against the Falcons on Thursday Night Football.

After catching a 2-yard touchdown to cap off the Bucs’ opening drive and tie the game at 7-7, Evans caught a 23-yard touchdown pass to put Tampa Bay back up 17-14 in the second quarter.

.@MikeEvans13_‘s 9️⃣9️⃣th TD catch marks 💯 TOTAL CAREER TOUCHDOWNS!

📺: #TBvsATL on @PrimeVideo pic.twitter.com/Edq4VrwAjf

— Tampa Bay Buccaneers (@Buccaneers) October 4, 2024

Bucs WR Mike Evans Photo by: USA Today

With that, Evans reached 100 total touchdowns for his career and became the 26th player in NFL history to reach that mark. He now has 99 receiving touchdowns and one fumble recovery for a touchdown, and his 100 total touchdowns tie him with Frank Gore, Franco Harris and Curtis Martin for the 23rd-most in league history.

Evans’ first touchdown also saw him tie Terrell Owens for the second-most touchdown catches against the Falcons, so his second score then moved him ahead of Owens and with 13, he now trails only Jerry Rice, who caught 25 touchdowns against Atlanta in his career.

These two touchdowns on Thursday night came just four days after Mike Evans became the Bucs’ all-time leading scorer, breaking a record that was held by Martin Gramatica for 20 years. Evans joined only Jerry Rice (San Francisco) and Emmitt Smith (Dallas) as the only non-kickers to be their franchise’s all-time leading scorer.

Mike Evans Needs One More Touchdown To Make Even More History

It might feel like Mike Evans makes history with every touchdown catch he hauls in these days, and that’s because to an extent, that’s actually the case.

Bucs WR Mike Evans – Photo by: USA Today

While his second touchdown catch on Thursday night gave him 100 total touchdowns in his career, he still sits at 99 career receiving touchdowns. That ties him with Pro Football Hall of Famer Don Hutson for the 11th-most in NFL history. So, with one more, he’ll pass Hutson and sit alone in 11th place all-time. He’ll also become the 11th player in league history to reach 100 receiving touchdowns in a career.

And he’ll close in on even more history than that with touchdown catch No. 100. Because once he inevitably crosses the 12,000-yard receiving yard mark, he’ll be the 10th player in NFL history to reach 12,000 receiving yards and 100 receiving touchdowns.

Evans will join a predictably elite club when he gets to 12,000 and 100, as eight of the nine players to reach those numbers are in the Pro Football Hall of Fame: Tim Brown, Chris Carter, Tony Gonzalez, Marvin Harrison Sr., Steve Largent, Randy Moss, Terrell Owens and Jerry Rice. The other player in that group is Larry Fitzgerald, who will be in the Pro Football Hall of Fame when eligible.

Of course, as Bucs fans know, Mike Evans has long been Pro Football Hall of Fame-caliber. More and more have finally begun to recognize as much nationally, and whenever eligible, he’ll certainly take his place in Canton.