Mike Evans’s one-game suspension was upheld after his appeal was heard, the NFL announced. The Buccaneers wideout was handed down the punishment for his role in Sunday’s brawl against the Saints. He will serve the one-game suspension this week when the team hosts the Packers.
Things were frustrating and chippy during Sunday’s matchup and things boiled over when New Orleans cornerback Marshon Lattimore began exchanging words with the Tampa Bay sideline. Hearing this, Tom Brady chirped back at Lattimore and the two got in each other’s face.
Buccaneers running back Leonard Fournette got involved and shoved Lattimore, leading to the defensive back retaliating. Evans then came out of nowhere and hit Lattimore, leading to the all-out brawl. Both Lattimore and Evans were ejected but only Evans received a suspension. After the game, Evans explained why he hit Lattimore.
“All I see is Lattimore punching Lee [Fournette] in the face or something like that and then pushed Tom,” Evans continued. “That’s all I saw. I just pushed him.”
“We are disappointed that the league upheld a suspension when there are several arguments of players doing more egregious violations including; Punching kicking and choking players and not being suspended,” his representatives wrote in a statement. “In addition Evans has already been ejected which is penalty enough but the league chose to discipline him even more this is unfortunate but we will respect the league decision.”
Both Evans and Lattimore have some history. In 2017, then-Buccaneers quarterback Jameis Winston was poking Lattimore in the back of his helmet after a play, leading Lattimore to chirp back at the quarterback, before Evans landed a cheap shot on the defensive back.
Evans said he had no concern about a possible suspension and cited the 2017 incident, saying he “didn’t even get ejected” in that game, admitting “that was really a cheap shot.”
Per ESPN’s Adam Schefter, the suspension will cost Evans $62,222 instead of $715,000 because of his restructured contract that lowered his base salary to a league-minimum $1.12 million. He will miss the primetime matchup Sunday with kickoff scheduled for 4:25 p.m. ET.
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