Why Eagles Are Uniquely Positioned to Sign Mike Evans
Mike Evans says he wants to play for a contender and with an elite quarterback, and the Eagles offer a chance to do both.
“Mike wants to play with an elite quarterback in an offense that will showcase him,” Evans‘ agent, Deryk Gilmore told Bleacher Report’s Jordan Schultz. “And be paid like a top wide receiver. He doesn’t want to play with a rookie QB. Winning a Super Bowl is a key priority.”
Evans‘ priority list for his next team, presuming the Tampa Bay Buccaneers aren’t able to retain him and the five-time Pro Bowler reaches free agency for the first time, sure seem to align with what the Philadelphia Eagles have to offer.
Coming off a tenth consecutive 1000-plus yard receiving season to open his career, Evans is exactly the caliber of player general manager Howie Roseman and the Eagles should prioritize when free agency gets underway on March 13.
While A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith are among the most prolific receiver duos in the league, accounting for a combined 2,522 yards and 14 touchdowns in 2023, Roseman and the Eagles went through a revolving door of third-receiver options with little success last season.
The Eagles plucked Julio Jones off the scrap heap, and the veteran proceeded to pull down just 11 receptions for 74 yards and three touchdowns. Meanwhile, Olamide Zaccheaus and Quez Watkins caught 69 passes for 306 yards and three touchdowns. Combined.
Ahead of a 2024 season that the Eagles are telegraphing as make-or-break for head coach Nick Sirianni, and with quarterback Jalen Hurts aiming to bounce back from a 2023 season that was a bit of a regression from his MVP-caliber showing in 2022, Evans is a game-breaking addition capable of elevating the entire offense.
Why Mike Evans Isn’t Just a Luxury Piece
If the Eagles dropped Evans into Hurts’ arsenal, Philadelphia would boast a receiving corps that’s up there alongside the Bengals’ trio of Ja’Marr Chase, Tee Higgins, and Tyler Boyd that fueled a Super Bowl run in 2021, as the league’s most explosive.
It might be easy to view Evans as an unnecessary luxury, especially ahead of Smith entering the final year of his contract. However, as Brown’s absence in the Eagles’ playoff loss illustrated, Philadelphia’s passing offense struggles mightily without a field-stretcher opposite Evans.
Even with Brown and Evans commanding 270 targets in 2023, Hurts still looked in Watkins’, Zaccheaus’, Jones’, and Britain Covey’s direction 66 times.
There is certainly a world where Brown, Smith, and Evans each draw between 115-120 targets and can be productive in a vertical offense. Besides, given that Buccaneers quarterback Baker Mayfield logged a 119.4 passer rating when targeting Evans last season, wouldn’t Evans provide more consistency and upside for Hurts than Watkins, Zaccheaus, Jones, and Covey combined?
Evans caught 79 passes for 1,255 yards with 13 touchdowns last season, for a team that fell in the divisional playoffs to the Detroit Lions.
Adding Evans’ production and consistency to the Eagles’ offense could prop open Philadelphia’s Super Bowl window, once again.
The Eagles have myriad needs to fill this offseason, especially in the secondary and at linebacker, but nothing matters if Hurts isn’t able to return to form as one of the game’s premier quarterbacks.
Fortunately for Roseman, who is among the NFL’s more aggressive general managers, Philadelphia is well-positioned in terms of the cap to make Evans a cornerstone of this offseason and still upgrade the talent at key positions of need.
After freeing up $13.5 million in space by releasing safety Kevin Byard, the Eagles are projected to have $39.6 million in cap space in 2024. In 2025, Philadelphia is projected to have upwards of $75 million in cap space — a number that could increase if the cap rises once again next offseason. Then, in 2026, the Eagles’ spending flexibility balloons to at least $185 million.
Cap space and financial flexibility aren’t a hurdle for the Eagles, and there aren’t many teams with elite quarterbacks who are also Super Bowl contenders with more at their disposal this offseason than Philadelphia has.
Sure, Evans could target playing with Joe Burrow and the Bengals ($52.1 million), but Cincinnati may be content to keep Tee Higgins and Tyler Boyd in place if they can.
Likewise, C.J. Stroud and the Texans are a legitimate Super Bowl threat with $70 million to spend this offseason, but does Evans view Stroud besting the AFC’s behemoths as an easier Super Bowl path than joining Hurts and the Eagles in the NFC?
If the Eagles are serious about winning a Super Bowl in the next four seasons, and setting Hurts up for sustained success, and if Evans truly believes playing with an elite quarterback and playing for rings is what matters most to him in the next stage of his career, this is a possible pairing to watch when free agency begins.
Matt Lombardo covers the NFL for Heavy.com, with a focus on the Philadelphia Eagles, Dallas Cowboys and Green Bay Packers. A seasoned NFL reporter with over a decade of experience, he previously served as FanSided’s national NFL insider and host of “The Matt Lombardo Show” podcast. Past stops also include NJ.com and radio for 97.5 The Fanatic and 97.3 ESPN FM. More about Matt Lombardo
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