Who Is Bucs’ Most Underrated Player?

When Tom Brady signed with the Bucs in 2020, one of many accompanying advantages was extra publicity. That didn’t simply imply a brighter highlight for the Tampa Bay space and the Bucs group, but in addition elevated consideration for a few of the group’s extra ignored gamers.

Tremendous Bowl rings are finally what each participant is after, and the addition of Brady finally resulted in each participant getting one. However notoriety issues too, doesn’t it? Nice gamers need to be acknowledged as greats. On that entrance, a large number of gamers have actually benefitted from the long run Corridor of Famer’s arrival. That’s what makes any dialogue about probably the most underrated Buc so attention-grabbing.

Final week, Professional Soccer Focus’ Sam Monson picked out the most underrated participant on each group within the NFL. Apparently sufficient, his choose for Tampa Bay was none apart from Mike Evans.

“In some way, regardless of a record-setting tempo of consecutive 1,000-yard seasons to open his NFL profession, Evans stays underrated in terms of the very best receivers within the sport,” Monson wrote.

At first look, this choose got here as a shock. Evans has gone over 1,000 receiving yards in eight straight seasons to begin his profession, as Monson stated. He’s Brady’s No. 1 goal. His 2021 season netted him his fourth Professional Bowl choice. It’s not off base to recommend that largely everybody within the NFL world is aware of who Evans is.

So, can the 28-year-old actually nonetheless be underrated? Properly, really, sure.

Evans Belongs In The Dialog Of Elite Receivers

A very powerful piece of Monson’s clarification is the very finish.

“Evans stays underrated in terms of the very best receivers within the sport,” he stated.

Regardless of the entire franchise information, the Professional Bowls and the Tremendous Bowl ring, Evans isn’t repeatedly talked about when a dialogue in regards to the NFL’s most elite receivers comes up. Davante Adams, DeAndre Hopkins, Cooper Kupp and Tyreek Hill are amongst these talked about at that degree, however why isn’t Evans? Even PFF’s record of high 25 large receivers from the 2021 common season had Evans at No. 21. This was after a daily season that noticed the Bucs’ star man catch 74 passes for 1,035 yards (14.0 avg) and 14 touchdowns.

So, sure, it’s nonetheless believable that Evans could possibly be thought of underrated. You possibly can’t argue with the amount stats he’s compiled, which give him a powerful case to be a future Corridor of Famer. Perhaps he isn’t racking up All-Professional picks, however that’s as a result of sheer variety of deserving receivers relative to the small variety of spots. Regardless of the case could also be, till he’s being talked about as one of many sport’s most elite gamers at his place, he most likely isn’t getting his correct due.

Is Evans Actually The Bucs’ Most Underrated Participant?

Whereas we will acknowledge that Evans should deserve the “underrated” tag, it is likely to be exhausting to name him the Bucs’ most underrated participant. There are a variety of men who could possibly be within the working for that title as a substitute. Carlton Davis III has developed into the group’s No. 1 nook and is a real lockdown man, however he doesn’t get a variety of love nationally. Given the way in which he’s performed within the final couple of seasons, Donovan Smith could possibly be within the dialog. Even Chris Godwin, who shares the receivers room with Evans, is likely to be on the underrated facet of issues. However there’s one participant on the Bucs’ roster whose identify is synonymous with the phrase “underrated.” That, in fact, is Lavonte David.

David Isn’t Correctly Rated Nationally, However He’s Beloved Regionally

David deserves to be lauded as one of many NFL’s finest linebackers. That was true from early in his profession and it continues to be true now. On the printed of just about each Bucs sport, you’ll hear the veteran known as a underrated. However how lengthy does he should be some of the underrated gamers within the NFL earlier than he will get the popularity he deserves?

He made the PFWA All-Rookie Workforce in 2012, then earned an All-Professional nod in 2013. Since then, he acquired only one Professional Bowl choice, and that got here in 2015. Yearly, he feels worthy of a spot on the Professional Bowl roster, but it simply doesn’t come. He did earn a spot on the NFL’s All-Decade Workforce for the 2010s, however he merely hasn’t gotten sufficient love through the years. Now, at 32, he would possibly begin to decline. That makes it all of the extra irritating that he was by no means correctly rated throughout his prime.

If there’s something to cling to, it’s that David isn’t underrated amongst Bucs followers and media. He at all times will get his props from the fan base and anybody who watches him on a weekly foundation. At some point, he’ll retire and have his identify positioned within the Bucs Ring of Honor inside Raymond James Stadium. He’ll additionally at all times have that Tremendous Bowl LV ring. And he’ll completely have the adoration from the fan base that watched him go from 2012 second-round choose to the very best participant on a nasty protection to, ultimately, a champion and Bucs legend.