Mike Evans can still play.
That was never a question, even with the wide receiver turning 33 in August. The only question is: Can he stay healthy?
He has missed 12 games over the past two seasons for various injuries, including his first surgery last season for a broken collarbone.
The 49ers are betting on Evans doing just that, having signed him to a three-year, $42.4 million deal this offseason.
49ers fullback Kyle Juszczyk told NFL Network that the six-time Pro Bowler looked even better than expected during offseason practices.
“Mike has been so impressive, and I feel like that’s saying so much because we were expecting so much,” Juszczyk told NFL Network, via joebucsfan.com. “Your expectations are already high, and I feel like he’s already exceeded that. He has been unguardable at practice. Red zone has been an absolute problem. He’s a great teammate. I think everyone has already enjoyed his presence so much. I think he’s going to be an incredible leader for the wide receivers room. It’s hard to imagine a better addition than Mike has been.”
Evans continues to build a Hall of Fame-worthy resume, with 866 catches for 13,052 yards and 108 touchdowns. He had career-lows in catches (30), yards (368) and touchdowns (three) because his injury last season limited him to a career-low eight games.
Bucs Clips
The clock keeps ticking for Baker Mayfield and the Buccaneers to get a new deal done before Mayfield’s stated deadline of the start of training camp.
At his football camp in Oklahoma on Saturday, the topic of his contract came up during a session with reporters.
“I would love to be there,” Mayfield said, via a video posted on the SoonerScoop YouTube channel. “I think both sides want to get it done. Now it’s a matter of finding that middle ground and what makes both sides happy. . . .
“We fell in love with Tampa, and it’s a great place to raise kids and be around. So regardless of what happens, I think we’ll spend our offseasons there. Obviously, it’s a little brutally hot, but it’s good for training, but it’s — yeah, I want to be there long term. They treated me right, and it’s the first place I’ve gotten to that feels like Oklahoma when it comes down to football is football, how can they put you in the best position to have success on the field, and how can they give their resources to help you out? And so, it’s a great place.”
Two takeaways. One, the key question (as it usually is) regarding the negotiation is whether the two sides will move far enough from their positions to meet somewhere in the middle. That depends on where they are, and how much room they have to move.
Mayfield is entering the last season of a three-year, $100 million deal. Absent an extension (and a willingness by the Buccaneers to apply a franchise tag that would cost nearly $48 million in 2027), he’ll be an unrestricted free agent in March.
Second, by deciding to spend his offseasons in Tampa, he has entertained the possibility of spending his football seasons elsewhere.
That could be the key to getting the negotiations to a middle ground that Mayfield likes. Sometimes, a team will use a player’s apparent desire to stay put against him, by offering less than market value. To get fair value, Mayfield has to both know what his market is — and be willing to leave in order to get more than what the Buccaneers are willing to pay.
Former NFL running back Doug Martin died last October, after becoming unresponsive in the custody of Oakland, California police. Martin’s parents are now suing Oakland over Martin’s passing.
Via the San Francisco Chronicle, Martin’s parents filed a wrongful-death action in federal court on Tuesday. The lawsuit alleges that Oakland police used excessive force while detaining Martin.
The paramedic company, Falck Northern California, also was named as a defendant. Martin’s parents contends that first responders took too long to respond and failed to provide proper care.
Attorney John Burris told the Chronicle that an independent pathologist has concluded Martin likely died from “restrained asphyxia,” due to officers allegedly pushing his face into the floor and pressing on his back.
“You’d like to think that when police are called to a situation for somebody who is having a mental breakdown, the person doesn’t wind up dead,” Burris said.
Burris added that the official autopsy and toxicology report have not been released by the Alameda County coroner. Burris said he hopes the lawsuit will compel the authorities to disclose the information.
“The most important thing here is to find out what happened,” Burris said. “It’s not knowing that’s the difficult part for [Martin’s family].”
A first-round pick in 2012, Martin played six years for the Buccaneers and one for the Raiders. He was a two-time Pro Bowler and a first-team All-Pro in 2015.
Having won his first MVP award in 2025, quarterback Matthew Stafford is coming off a year where he played some of the best football of his career.
But Stafford, who turned 38 in February, is clearly on the back nine of his career — if not the proverbial final few holes.
There was speculation that Stafford could retire after the 2025 season, but he put that to rest in his MVP acceptance speech. He and the Rams are now comfortable going year-to-year as it relates to Stafford continuing his career.
As Stafford gets older, he’s consulted with some of his former peers about potentially playing into his 40s: Tom Brady and Drew Brees.
He addressed that in a recent interview with Chris Long’s Green Light podcast.
“I talked to [Brady] a little bit, I’ve talked to Drew Brees a little bit about it as well,” Stafford said. “It is year-to-year because I think it’s fair to the team, I think it’s fair to me, my family — I don’t want to sit there and say, OK, 24 months from now, I’ve got to be ready to play another football season. I’m like, phew, that just seems like a lot. I know that I’m ready to play this year. And hopefully, I feel great at the end of next year, and I’m ready to play another one after that. And then maybe we just kind of keep going like that. But, committing to more than that feels a little bit daunting. And I think a little bit unfair to the team and myself.
“So, the last thing I want to do is sign some five-year extension, and after one year be like, ‘Oh man, I’m ready to retire. I want to spend time with my family.’ And they’re sitting there with four years on the books and had a bunch of planning done that I was going to be around. I don’t want to play football not all the way in it, too, and just be half-assed leading it.”
Stafford added that the Rams’ brass has been great about the situation.
“But, yeah, I don’t know,” Stafford said. “I don’t know how far I want to play. I know I’m excited about playing this year and then we’ll see after that.”
Stafford added that he’s spent time talking with Brady in each of the last two offseasons. But one of his most notable conversations with Brees happened last year.
“I think one of the things that surprised me is, I was talking to Drew — this was before last season — and he was like, ‘How old are you, again?’ I was like, ‘I’m 37.’ He’s like, ‘You might have your best five years of your career coming up.’ And I was like, ‘Huh,’” Stafford said. “I never really thought about it that way. You’re taught as a player in this league it’s a young man’s game and the older you get, you’re just kind of doing everything you can to try to stay up to par with everybody else. And Drew saying that kind of lit a fire under me, and it give you a little bit of belief that maybe an old guy can go out there and spin it around a little bit.
“Obviously, last year was a successful year for our team and for myself. And just gives you a little bit of energy moving forward and hope that that continues.”
Stafford completed 65 percent of his passes last season, leading the league with 4,707 yards and 46 touchdowns while throwing just eight interceptions. In the postseason, Stafford completed 55.5 percent of his throws for 936 yards with six touchdowns and one pick in three games.
For the first time since 1989, the Buccaneers have a new radio voice.
The Bucs announced that Tony Castricone is the team’s new radio play-by-play announcer. He succeeds Gene Deckerhoff, who served in the role from 1989 to 2025.
Castricone was previously the radio play-by-play announcer for the Washington Huskies football and men’s basketball teams.
“It’s the honor of a lifetime to be entrusted with this extremely rare opportunity and this one-of-a-kind role within this fantastic franchise,” Castricone said. “I’d like to thank the Glazer family and everyone I met with during the interview process for their confidence in my abilities and for allowing me to live out this dream. I’d also like to congratulate Gene Deckerhoff on an iconic 37-year run. There will never be another Gene, and I’ll miss hearing his larger-than-life voice on gamedays. The thought of following in his legendary footsteps is humbling and exhilarating. My family and I cannot wait to be Buccaneers, to be Floridians and to meet as many members of the Krewe as possible.”
The offseason programs around the league have largely wrapped up for 2026, with players and coaches around the league now experiencing some time off.
But training camps are just a few weeks away from opening.
The NFL announced the camp report dates for all 32 teams on Monday, with the first ones opening up in less than a month.
Below are the camp locations and report dates:
Arizona Cardinals: State Farm Stadium | Rookies: 7/22 | Veterans 7/22
Atlanta Falcons: Atlanta Falcons Training Facility | Rookies: 7/24 | Veterans: 7/28
Baltimore Ravens: Under Armour Performance Center | Rookies: 7/24 | Veterans: 7/28
Buffalo Bills: St. John Fisher University | Rookies: 7/21 | Veterans: 7/28
Carolina Panthers: Bank of America Stadium | Rookies: 7/21 | Veterans: 7/22
Chicago Bears: Halas Hall | Rookies: 7/25 | Veterans: 7/28
Cincinnati Bengals: Paycor Stadium | Rookies: 7/25 | Veterans: 7/28
Cleveland Browns: CrossCountry Mortgage Campus | Rookies: 7/23 | Veterans: 7/28
Dallas Cowboys: Marriott Residence Inn Oxnard | Rookies: 7/28 | Veterans: 7/28
Denver Broncos: Broncos Park Powered by CommonSpirit | Rookies: 7/22 | Veterans: 7/28
Detroit Lions: Meijer Performance Center | Rookies: 7/25 | Veterans: 7/28
Green Bay Packers: Lambeau Field | Rookies: 7/27 | Veterans: 7/28
Houston Texans: Houston Methodist Training Center | Rookies: 7/21 | Veterans: 7/28
Indianapolis Colts: Grand Park | Rookies: 7/27 | Veterans: 7/28
Jacksonville Jaguars: Miller Electric Center | Rookies: 7/25 | Veterans: 7/28
Kansas City Chiefs: Missouri Western State University | Rookies: 7/28 | Veterans: 7/28
Las Vegas Raiders: Intermountain Health Performance Center | Rookies: 7/23 | Veterans: 7/28
Los Angeles Chargers: The Bolt | Rookies: 7/23 | Veterans: 7/28
Los Angeles Rams: Loyola Marymount University | Rookies: 7/25 | Veterans: 7/25
Miami Dolphins: Baptist Health Training Complex | Rookies: 7/21 | Veterans: 7/28
Minnesota Vikings: TCO Performance Center | Rookies: 7/26 | Veterans: 7/28
New England Patriots: New Balance Athletics Center | Rookies: 7/21 | Veterans: 7/24
New Orleans Saints: Ochsner Sports Performance Center | Rookies: 7/28 | Veterans: 7/28
New York Giants: Quest Diagnostics Training Center/The Greenbrier | Rookies: 7/23 | Veterans: 7/28
New York Jets: Athletic Health Jets Training Center | Rookies: 7/25 | Veterans: 7/28
Philadelphia Eagles: Jefferson Health Training Complex | Rookies: 7/28 | Veterans: 7/28
Pittsburgh Steelers: Saint Vincent College | Rookies: 7/28 | Veterans: 7/28
San Francisco 49ers: SAP Performance Facility | Rookies: 7/18 | Veterans: 7/25
Seattle Seahawks: Virginia Mason Athletic Center | Rookies: 7/17 | Veterans: 7/24
Tampa Bay Buccaneers: AdventHealth Training Center | Rookies: 7/27 | Veterans: 7/28
Tennessee Titans: Vanderbilt Health Football Center | Rookies: 7/23 | Veterans: 7/28
Washington Commanders: Commanders Park | Rookies: 7/24 | Veterans: 7/28
The NFL has announced the full list of joint practices that will take place during training camps this summer.
The first set of them will take place on August 11 in four different locations. The Cowboys and Rams will practice in Los Angeles, the Colts will visit the Patriots, the Bucs will work out at the Jets’ facility and the Titans will go to Santa Clara to practice with the 49ers.
All in all, there will be 28 teams working in joint sessions in August. The Lions, Steelers, Chiefs and Broncos are the teams that will not hold joint practices.
The full list of joint practices is below with the host team listed second. If there are multiple practices scheduled, the date of the first practice is listed.
August 11 — Cowboys-Rams; Colts-Patriots; Buccaneers-Jets; Titans-49ers.
August 12 — Dolphins-Commanders.
August 13 — Jaguars-Saints.
August 18 — 49ers-Chargers; Raiders-Texans; Saints-Cowboys.
August 19 — Falcons-Colts; Ravens-Vikings; Panthers-Jaguars; Eagles-Patriots.
August 20 — Bills-Browns; Bears-Bengals; Saints-Rams; Giants-Dolphins.
August 21 — Seahawks-Titans.
August 25 — Buccaneers-Jaguars.
August 26 — Cardinals-Packers; Texans-Panthers; Commanders-Ravens.
August 27 — Bears-Titans.
Buccaneers head coach Todd Bowles raised some concern about running back Bucky Irving’s fitness when he said he thinks Irving will be ready to return from a shoulder injury in the “summer or fall,” but a couple of developments in June have painted a better picture.
Irving practiced before the end of the Bucs’ offseason program and General Manager Jason Licht offered a little more context for Bowles’s comment about the fall. During an appearance on the Sports Day Tampa Bay podcast, Licht said that the team views training camp as the fall and said that Irving is “almost there right now.”
“He’s fine,” Licht said, via JoeBucsFan.com. “In fact, I think if we were playing here in a couple of weeks, he’d be ready to go.”
Irving missed seven games in 2025 and the Bucs slipped from fourth to 21st in rushing yards on the season. A full return along with a strong year for free agent pickup Kenneth Gainwell would be a step in the right direction for a rebound on the ground in Tampa.
After the Buccaneers blew a big lead on a Thursday night against the Falcons, he let the expletives fly regarding the team’s in-game deficiencies. Recently, Bowles provided a less profane assessment of the factors that doomed the Bucs from turning a 6-2 start into a sixth straight playoff appearance.
Via JoeBucsFan.com, Bowles recently addressed the team’s 2026 prospects in an interview with Sports Day Tampa Bay.
“If we can prepare and we can execute, and we don’t look at the names on people’s helmets, and we can play the same every week and learn how to finish off games and close games out — instead of getting a lead and just taking plays off, or not having a lead and having to come back late,” Bowles said.
While it’s not a direct admission that the team took plays off, the context makes the message clear.
“You just want to play four quarters and you want to go out there,” Bowles added. “And I think we have those types of alpha dogs on our team right now that will make this team to elevate to that. When they start coaching themselves and don’t need too much coaching on the sideline, that’s when you know you’ve arrived.”
The Buccaneers are in one of the weaker divisions in the NFL, but that could be changing. The Panthers are better. The Saints are improving. And the Falcons could be onto something.
Regardless, it’s hard for any NFL team to succeed if they take plays off. And that seems to be one of the things the 2025 Buccaneers did.
When the Buccaneers lost an OTA day due to excessive contact during practice, coach Todd Bowles didn’t say much about it. More recently, Buccaneers assistant G.M. Mike Greenberg elaborated, a bit.
“We’ve had a great offseason, a lot of energy, a lot of good stuff between the offense and defensive line,” Greenberg said on The Ronde Barber Show, via JoeBucsFan.com. “It’s been fun being out there, but with that comes sometimes a little bit too much contact. And Todd’s got to regulate it a lot after each play, which he does a great job of.”
Although every practice is recorded, not every practice is scrutinized by the league. As Greenberg explains it, the league randomly selected a practice that entailed too much contact.
“The league, really, they’ll just ask for [practice] tape randomly from teams from time to time,” Greenberg said. “They’ll get through everyone; sometimes they’ll go through teams twice. And they picked a day, if we’re being honest, we did have contact and we did deserve to lose an OTA day.”
Frankly, if the league (and the NFL Players Association) were intent on fully protecting players and enforcing the rules, both parties would assign one or more employees to watch every OTA practice. If teams know it’s random, they may be willing to roll the dice on certain days.
If it’s comprehensive, they know there’s no way to get lucky.
