Tom Brady is joining the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, meaning wide receiver Mike Evans will be playing for a quarterback who has won six Super Bowls and is bound for Canton.
Evans has been perhaps one of the most underrated players in the NFL over the years. Last year was his sixth-straight 1,000-yard season, tying him with Randy Moss for the most ever by a receiver to begin a career. But given that Evans’ Bucs have never been to the postseason during his six-year career, he hasn’t gotten the recognition he deserves. (Just look at his Madden NFL 20 grade last year.)
But with Brady now under center, big things are expected from the Bucs next year, and especially from Evans. And even though the QB and WR have yet to play a game together, they earned the sixth spot on Gil Brandt’s list of the NFL’s top 10 QB-WR pairings.
Per Brandt:
“Brady hasn’t had two pass-catchers top 1,100 receiving yards in the same season since 2011, when Rob Gronkowski and Wes Welker did it — to find another instance before that, you have to go back to the days of Randy Moss (Moss and Welker pulled it off in 2009 and ’07). Brady certainly didn’t get close last year, when Julian Edelman (100 catches, 1,117 yards, six TDs) was the only Patriots receiver to top 400 yards. In Tampa, Brady will get to throw to the only pair of teammates (Evans and Chris Godwin) who logged 1,100-plus receiving yards and eight-plus receiving touchdowns in 2019. I listed Evans here because I had to pick one Bucs receiver, but Brady could strike up a rapport with either Evans or Godwin — or both.”
I’m glad Brandt noted Godwin there at the end. The receiver had a career-year in 2019 with 86 receptions for 1,333 yards and nine touchdowns. Plus, he gave his No. 12 jersey to Brady, so you’d hope TB12 throws him an extra couple of balls next year.
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