The Tampa Bay Buccaneers lost a pair of locker-room leaders and longtime members of the organization when wide receiver Mike Evans signed a three-year contract with the San Francisco 49ers and linebacker Lavonte David officially confirmed his retirement.
Evans had been with the Buccaneers since the opening night of the NFL 2014 Draft, while David had featured for the club since the 2012 player-selection process. During a Monday appearance on NFL Network’s “Good Morning Football” program, Buccaneers head coach Todd Bowles opened up about no longer having Evans and David on the roster.
Todd Bowles: Mike Evans leaving Buccaneers for 49ers was “tough”
“Oh man, that was tough,” Bowles said about Evans heading to San Francisco, per Nick Shook of the NFL’s website. “He’s the best of the best on and off the field. I can’t say enough good things about him. They got a great one, as they know, we know how great he was. Very hard to see him leave sentimentally and professionally from that standpoint for me and everybody else involved.”
The perception exists that Evans no longer believed that a Buccaneers team led by Bowles and quarterback Baker Mayfield could win a Super Bowl with the 32-year-old receiver on the squad. Tampa Bay entered its Week 9 bye this past fall with a record of 6-2, but the Bucs later lost seven of their final nine games en route to missing the postseason.
While the Buccaneers signed Bowles and general manager Jason Licht to multiyear contract extensions last offseason, some think one or both could be shown the door if Tampa Bay fails to qualify for the playoffs next season.
Bowles mentioned the Buccaneers “feel confident” that having receivers Emeka Egbuka, Chris Godwin, Jalen McMillan and Tez Johnson will help make up for Evans no longer being a target for Mayfield. That said, it sounds like David’s retirement may have wounded Bowles more than Evans’ free-agency decision.
Todd Bowles: Lavonte David retiring “really stung”
“Personally, this one really stung me,” Bowles said about David. “It’s gonna sting me from an attitude standpoint. …He was the guy off the field that got everyone going. He practiced that way, he carried himself that way. He was, right now, the cream of the crop of who you want to coach and how you want that guy to play. He was that guy. He was that guy for us for 14 years. I can’t say enough good things about him. He was like a brother to me.”
During the Buccaneers’ collapse this past season, David publicly challenged his teammates “to look ourselves in the mirror.” Such a call to action didn’t help Tampa Bay right the ship, and Bowles now will need player-led leadership from a different source later this year.