Star receiver Mike Evans’ contract with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers expires after the upcoming season. However, negotiations over a contract extension are stalling.

2023 could be wide receiver Mike Evans’ final season in a Tampa Bay Buccaneers jersey.

As reported by the Tampa Bay Times, negotiations over a contract extension have been dragging on for some time, and now may have finally stalled just before the start of the season.

Evans had signed a five-year contract worth $82 million in 2018. According to the Tampa Bay Times, the 30-year-old is expected to demand a deal similar to Cooper Kupp’s with the Rams: The latter will get $80.1 million for three years, $75 million of which is guaranteed, including a $20 million signing bonus.

According to the Tampa Bay Times, however, the Buccaneers are not prepared to dig so deep into their pockets for Evans. After the Super Bowl victory with Tom Brady, things went rather downhill for the Tampa franchise, and gradually the many veterans on the roster left.

Because the Bucs’ goal seems to be to build a young team: 13 of the 53 players on the roster for the new season are rookies. Evans, who set every conceivable receiving record for the franchise, doesn’t seem to fit that plan.

“It hurts him to see players strike and be rewarded for it while doing everything for the organization, on the field, in the community, off the field,” said his player adviser Deryk Gilmore.

Mike Evans: record wide receiver

Evans was drafted in the first round by the Buccaneers in 2014 and has recorded more than 1,000 receiving yards in each of the nine seasons since he’s been in the NFL. He was the first player in league history to do so.

In what could be his final year in Tampa, he and quarterback Baker Mayfield will try to extend that record to ten seasons. The Buccaneers start the new season on 10 September against the Minnesota Vikings.