Buccaneers' Baker Mayfield offers huge Mike Evans prediction amid rumors

Shortly after the 2025 regular season got underway, an article shared that veteran Tampa Bay Buccaneers wide receiver Mike Evans could retire this winter. 

Evans hasn't yet publicly revealed his intentions. However, Tampa Bay quarterback Baker Mayfield sounds confident he hasn't thrown his last in-game pass to his favorite target. 

Baker Mayfield convinced Mike Evans doesn't want to end career, Tampa Bay tenure with disappointing season

"Here’s the thing," Mayfield explained during a recent edition of "The Ronde Barber Show," per Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times. "I don’t have to really plea with it, because Mike’s too much of a competitor and cares too much about Tampa to end his career without 1,000 yards, without a division championship, without a playoff run. And that, first of all, speaks to who Mike is. But that’s the truth. And you know, he doesn’t want to do that. And, you know, you could just kind of feel it."

Heading into the campaign, Evans and Hall of Famer Jerry Rice were the only players in NFL history to record at least 1,000 receiving yards for a minimum of 11 consecutive seasons. However, Evans' streak came to an end due to the fact that he suffered a broken collarbone on Oct. 20. 

While Evans ultimately returned to action in Week 15, he couldn't help stop a Buccaneers collapse that involved the club going from 6-2 to 8-9 en route to missing the playoffs. 

Why Baker Mayfield is confident about Mike Evans take

Evans is not under contract for the 2026 campaign, and the 32-year-old declined to offer any hints about his future ahead of Tampa Bay's regular-season finale. While Mayfield hasn't spoken with Evans since Week 18 wrapped up, the signal-caller suggested that the franchise legend will end his Buccaneers career on his own terms. 

"I don’t have any info," Mayfield added. "I told Mike, 'This is your decision. Take your time doing it.' But understanding who Mike is, that is my guess, that he didn’t want it to end this way."

Evans has only played for the Buccaneers since they made him the seventh overall pick of the 2014 NFL Draft. A recent report claimed that "it’s less than 50-50 [Evans] re-signs with Tampa and that his career with the Buccaneers is likely finished," in part because he allegedly would "like to go to a contender" in his pursuit of a second career Super Bowl ring.