Tampa Bay Buccaneers wide receiver Mike Evans was one of the first people to know Tom Brady was unretiring. But since Brady looped him in with a handful of cryptic texts — including one that poked fun at the fact Evans had thrown what appeared to be his 44-year-old quarterback’s final touchdown pass in the NFL into the stands — Evans didn’t believe him.
Evans recounted the tale to KPRC 2 Houston’s Ari Alexander (notably, while wearing his own Buccaneers shirsey). The veteran wideout explained he thought Brady’s texts, which suggested the two weren’t done on the field, was merely a bored QB “trolling” the wideout who’d caught 31 of his 710 all-time touchdown passes.
A few hours before @TomBrady announced his return, he sent Mike Evans a series of cryptic texts.
1st, a link to an article about the "final" TD ball Evans tossed in the crowd.
Then:
"There's more touchdowns in our future."
Evans tells me he thought Brady was messing with him. pic.twitter.com/gh3i1hCj3l
— Ari Alexander (@AriA1exander) July 4, 2022
Instead, Brady ended his retirement after 40 days and saved the Bucs from a future where their starting quarterback was Blaine Gabbert. He also may or may not have pushed head coach Bruce Arians into retirement in the process, but that wasn’t covered in Evans’ text messages.
Evans has remained his steady, prolific self with Brady at the helm. His 2020 and 2021 campaigns marked an NFL-record eight straight seasons with at least 1,000 receiving yards to start his career. After catching 21 touchdowns between 2017 and 2019 with Jameis Winston and a string of backups at the helm, he’s had 27 alongside Brady in the regular season alone.
So maybe the Pro Bowl wide receiver should have been a little more excited to hear about his future Hall of Fame quarterback’s return to the field. Or maybe Brady should have opened with that news instead of busting Evans’ chops about throwing away his last touchdown pass. Either way, both sides have plenty to be happy about heading into the 2022 NFL season.
