Stat Watch: Mike Evans Road to Another 1,000 Yard Season

Now that Mike Evans is the all-time Buccaneers leader in touchdowns with 72, the next big feat to keep an eye on is his consecutive 1,000-yard season streak.

Evans has at least 1,000 yards receiving in each of his first seven seasons in the league and is going for his eighth consecutive season. Last season, he passed Randy Moss for most consecutive 1,000-yard seasons to begin a player’s career. It’s crazy to think that Moss was Evans’ childhood idol growing up, and Tom Brady has played with both of them. Jerry Rice owns the overall consecutive record of 11 seasons.

Heading into the game against the Indianapolis Colts, Evans stands at 679 receiving yards and only needs 321 yards to extend his historic streak. Through the first ten games last year, Evans was only at 514 yards.

An increase in production for Evans shouldn’t come as a surprise. Last season, Brady had to learn the offensive system and his new teammates without a true offseason and camp due to COVID-19. Even coming off of a Super Bowl victory, Evans took it upon himself to have the best training camp and offseason of his career.

Injuries on offense, including Rob Gronkowski, Scotty Miller, and Antonio Brown, have led to more targets. The growing chemistry between Evans and Brady is showing up consistently in the end zone. Evans now has ten touchdowns in ten games this season.

During the last couple of games last year, Bruce Arians and Byron Leftwich made it a part of the game plan to stat pad Evans to help him attain the record while they were looking to improve their playoff seeding. It doesn’t seem as that will be necessary this season. As long as Evans is able to remain healthy and stay on the football field, he should eclipse 1,000 yards much easier than last year, especially with the added 17th game.