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This will surely stun everyone: the Tampa Bay Buccaneers have upgraded wide receiver Mike Evans from doubtful to questionable for Sunday’s game with the New Orleans Saints. Evans was a limited participant in Friday’s practice session after resting a hamstring injury throughout the week, but he must have shown enough confidence in his leg during Saturday’s walkthrough to earn this optimism.
He will still have to go through pregame warmups and a final check by the Buccaneers medical staff, but Tampa Bay coach Bruce Arians has said all along that Evans playing would end up being a gametime decision. At this stage, the Saints should probably plan on Evans lining up against them.
If he does play, expect top Saints cornerback Marshon Lattimore to run against him for most of the day. Lattimore and Evans have traded big games against each other before, with Evans winning the 2018 season opener off of 7 receptions for 147 yards and a score, while Lattimore didn’t allow him to catch a single pass in their most recent meeting.
That decision could also be informed by Evans’ success against the No. 2 Saints cornerback, Janoris Jenkins, when he played the New York Giants last year. Evans drew Jenkins in coverage for much of the game and won that matchup handily, totaling 8 receptions for 150 yards and 3 touchdown catches. Jenkins should be assigned to cover Chris Godwin this time around, but the Buccaneers may get creative and move their receivers around more often to take advantage of a mismatch.
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