Mike Evans built what he considers to be a lifelong bond with Jameis Winston, but that's not keeping him from getting giddy over his new quarterback.
Evans gushed over the arrival of Tom Brady to his Buccaneers during an Instagram Live session with former Tampa Bay receiver Louis Murphy.
"If we didn't get Tom? Then obviously we were going to keep Jameis. I don't know for sure. I'm not the GM. I'm not a coach. Obviously, I wanted Jameis back because that's my bro," Evans said, via the Tampa Bay Times. "The opportunity to get Tom Brady. Like, that's Tom Brady, bro. Like that's the greatest of all-time. He's franchise changer. Like he's about to change the franchise.
"Like, ticket sales are going through the roof. Like prime time games. And he understands the game of football to nobody else understands that level besides the greats and it's going to be great to work with him, you understand what I'm saying. The young receiving corps we got, the tight ends we've got, we've got Gronk coming in ... it's going to be great for the city. And it's going to be just great overall. Hopefully we have a great season, everybody stays healthy and it pans out the way we want."
Evans wasn't wrong about the primetime games. The Buccaneers are set for five dates with a national audience in 2020, with most of the credit for that due to the presence of Brady. Whether that produces wins remains to be seen, of course, but it was refreshing to hear Evans speak so highly of Winston when too often we cast aside human beings just because they didn't quite live up to the sky-high expectations placed upon them by the highest level of sport.
If Brady can end up on the same page as Evans and his teammates, the season could indeed end up being "great overall" as Evans said. After spending his college career with Johnny Manziel and his pro career with Josh McCown, Mike Glennon and Winston, there's no question this will be the best quarterback the receiver has played with.
