FAB 5. SR’s BUC SHOTS
• The Bucs will explore contract extension talks with wide receiver Mike Evans this summer as he heads into his contract year where he is set to make a base salary of $690,000 in addition to a roster bonus of $1,725,205. Of course with Evans being a first-round pick, he is subject to the team picking up his fifth-year option in 2018, too, and that will come with a substantial raise.

Last year, the wide receiver fifth-year option salary for top 10 picks (Evans was the seventh overall pick in 2014) was $12.268 million. It’s expected to be closer to $14 million for wide receivers this year, and at that price, the Bucs might as well negotiate a long-term deal at or near that rate with Evans to reward him for three straight 1,000-yard seasons and a Pro Bowl berth in 2016.

Bucs GM Jason Licht – Photo courtesy of the Buccaneers

That’s one thing that is gaining some traction in the Bucs locker room and in the NFL agent community. Bucs general manager Jason Licht and director of football administration Mike Greenberg have built a reputation for taking care of their own star players well before the start of free agency. The long-term extension for Pro Bowl defensive tackle Gerald McCoy was done in October of 2014 – nearly five months before McCoy was set to hit the market.

Although Pro Bowl running back Doug Martin’s contract talks did come down to the wire, Licht and Greenberg extended the contract of Pro Bowl linebacker Lavonte David in August of 2015, a full seven months before David was scheduled to be a free agent. Veteran right tackle Demar Dotson signed a three-year extension this past August – seven months before his contract expired.

Extending the contract of Evans two years before the Bucs have to sends a very strong message to the Pro Bowl receiver, his teammates and the rest of the league that Tampa Bay has no problem in taking care of its own star players and rewarding them with market value contracts.

Of course, it behooves the Bucs to lock up Evans early as the wide receiver class of 2014 – Odell Beckham, Brandin Cooks and Sammy Watkins and Jarvis Landry – will all be in the market at roughly the same time looking for big contracts with each new deal driving the market price up. Pittsburgh’s Antonio Brown just became the highest-paid wide receiver in the league at $17 million per year, surpassing Cincinnati’s A.J. Green ($15 million per year) by $2 million.

• Speaking of contract extensions, if Bucs tight end Cameron Brate has another great season in Tampa Bay this year the team could pursue a long-term extension rather than offer him a one-year tender as a restricted free agent in 2018. Brate had a career-best season in 2016 with 57 catches for 660 yards and eight touchdowns, which was the most in franchise history for a tight end and tied him for the league lead among tight ends last year.

“The stock is straight up for him, so I would assume they are going to want to keep him around for the long term,” Joe Linta, Brate’s agent, told me.

Brate suffered a small fracture in his back after getting hit in New Orleans by a Saints defender in a Week 16 loss, but Linta told me he has fully recovered and has resumed working out.

Bucs QB Jameis Winston – Photo by: Getty Images

• Don’t be surprised if the Bucs pursue an early long-term contract extension with quarterback Jameis Winston if he continues to improve, stay healthy and lead the Bucs to wins. Winston is entering the third year of a four-year rookie deal, but Tampa Bay has the right to pick up a fifth-year option on the QB’s contract, too.

Winston’s agent Greg Genske has been thrilled by his client’s progress in the NFL after leaving Florida State as a redshirt sophomore, but he hasn’t been surprised.

“I’m not at all surprised with what Jameis has been able to accomplish or with what the Bucs have been able to accomplish,” Genske. “I’ve always had a lot of confidence in Jameis as a football player and as a man. Part of that was me being his advocate for a long period of time leading up to the draft. I was charged with the responsibility of making sure that every team understands what I understand about this man. I’m not surprised, but I’m extremely happy for him and the Bucs.”

• In an NFL video snippet for the NFL Scouting Combine, Bucs wide receiver Mike Evans remembers running a 4.53 in the 40-yard dash in Indianapolis in 2014. Evans, the seventh overall pick that year, was part of a draft class that saw five wide receivers selected in the first round, that also included Sammy Watkins, Odell Beckham, Jr., Brandin Cooks and Kelvin Benjamin.

“I was trying to be as competitive as possible because we were all trying to fight to go as high as we can in the draft,” Evans said. “Guys were running super fast and I wanted to run as fast as those guys. People were not expecting me to run as fast as I did considering I’m a big receiver. I think that helped me in my draft position. It was fun seeing all the guys, all the great players around the country. Guys trying to chase their dreams.”

• NFL agent Brian Levy, who I interviewed for perspective on Bucs director of administration Mike Greenberg, is also the agent for South Florida junior running back Marlon Mack. Levy said he expects Mack to run in the 4.4 range at the NFL Scouting Combine on Friday, which would put him in third round consideration.

USF RB Marlon Mack – Photo: SofloBulls.com

“I’ve seen him in his workouts down here and if that’s any indication of what he’s going to do at the Combine … he’s surpassed anything that I’ve known, thought or thought he was capable of with his training,” Levy said. “That’s how good he’s been. He has completely and totally surpassed it all. He works harder than anyone I’ve ever seen. Physically, he looks like a linebacker. In the running back pads you really can’t see that, but when he was working out with some of the stronger guys and he had his shirt off, you think he’s a linebacker.”

Mack had 20 100-yard games, including two 200-yard performances, most recently against Temple in 2015 when he carried the ball 20 times for 230 yards (11.0 avg.) with two touchdowns and caught three passes for 42 yards and another score in a 44-23 win.

“Did you see his game against Temple?” Levy said. “Oh my God. When I was watching some of his runs it looked like my screen was on fast forward. But no, he’s actually that fast. He’s muscle big, too. He’s big and thick and it’s all good weight.”

With running back among the top needs in Tampa Bay this offseason due to Doug Martin’s uncertain future with the team, expect the Bucs to be interested in the hometown prospect. The Bucs plan on attending his USF pro day workout and will have him in for a pre-draft visit over the next couple of weeks.

• Thank you for all of the great feedback on last week’s SR’s Fab 5 column regarding Bucs quarterback Jameis Winston misspeaking at Melrose Elementary. I enjoyed reading all of your comments and responded to many of them.

Please let me know your thoughts about this week’s SR’s Fab 5 in the comments section below and ask me any questions you have. I’ll reply with my answers throughout next week.

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Former Vikings RB Adrian Peterson – Photo by: Getty Images

• And finally, the Buccaneers will not be pursuing former New York Jets center Nick Mangold in free agency, nor will they sign former Kansas City running back Jamaal Charles or former Minnesota rusher Adrian Peterson. It’s not happening, folks.

It’s doubtful that the Bucs would also be interested in recently released former Jets receiver Brandon Marshall, who turns 33 on March 23.

But expect Tampa Bay to be in hot pursuit of Washington’s soon-to-be free agent receiver DeSean Jackson with Los Angeles’ Kenny Britt as a possible backup plan. Britt, who played for former Bucs head coach Greg Schiano at Rutgers, was actually going to be signed by Tampa Bay in the 2014 offseason had Schiano not been fired.