Buccaneers wide receiver Mike Evans never reached the postseason through his first six years as a pro.
Then Tom Brady chose Tampa Bay and everything changed.
After winning the Super Bowl on Sunday, Evans credited Brady for coming in and changing the culture to help lead the Buccaneers to a championship.
“It’s hard to do what he did, to come without an offseason, learn a new system as a quarterback — the hardest position in all of team sports — and to just pick it up like he’s been running this offense for a long time,” Evans said. “Obviously we got better as the year went on, but man, Tom’s the GOAT for a reason. He played great all year. We needed him to do that and we got the goal that we were aiming for.”
Evans said the difference with Brady and tight end Rob Gronkowski didn’t take long to notice.
“It was instant. If you add Tom Brady, the greatest quarterback of all time, that’s going to do it itself,” Evans said. “We have a lot of great players around him. If you give the G.O.A.T. all these players it’s going to work out and it did. We fought hard all season. We were learning on the fly, week-to-week. We were a new team and we got the job done — it feels amazing.”
Evans had one catch for 31 yards in Super Bowl LV, but the most important thing he’ll take away from the experience is a ring.