Michael Lynn Evans Jr. (born August 21, 1993) is an American professional football wide receiver for the San Francisco 49ers of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Texas A&M Aggies, earning consensus All-American honors after recording a school record of 1,394 receiving yards on 69 receptions in 2013. Evans was selected by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the first round with the seventh overall pick in the 2014 NFL draft.
Evans has been selected to the Pro Bowl six times and was a second-team All-Pro in 2016 and 2023. He holds nearly every major Buccaneers franchise receiving record, including career receptions, yards, and touchdowns. Evans was also a member of the team that won Super Bowl LV. He has a record 11 1,000-yard receiving seasons to start a career, and his 11 consecutive 1,000-yard seasons are tied with Jerry Rice for most by a receiver in NFL history.
Evans attended Ball High School in Galveston, Texas, where he played basketball, football, and ran track for the Tors athletic teams. In basketball, Evans averaged 18.3 points, 8.4 rebounds, and 5.2 assists as a senior. He only played football during his senior year, and was thus not heavily recruited by college football programs. As a senior, Evans earned second-team District 24-4A honors after making 25 receptions for 648 yards and seven touchdowns.
In track & field, Evans competed in the jumping events. He achieved personal-best leaps of 14.11 m in the triple jump and 6.28 m in the long jump. Evans also posted a 4.54 time in the 40-yard dash at football camp and was a member of the 4 × 100m and 4 × 200m relay squads.
Evans was recruited by Texas A&M as a wide receiver and eventually signed to play for the Aggies.
While attending Texas A&M University, Evans played for the Texas A&M Aggies football team from 2011 to 2013. After being redshirted as a freshman in 2011, he had 82 receptions for 1,105 yards and five touchdowns in 2012. On the year, Evans recorded three games with at least 100 receiving yards. He received freshman All-Southeastern Conference (SEC) honors from the league's coaches.
In the 2013 game against #1 Alabama, Evans caught seven passes for a school-record 279 yards during the 49–42 loss. During the game against #24 Auburn, he broke his own record after he compiled 11 receptions for 287 yards and four touchdowns.
As a sophomore in 2013, Evans was a first-team All-SEC selection. On December 17, 2013, it was announced that he was selected to the 2013 Associated Press All-America Team, First-team. Evans finished the 2013 season with 69 receptions for 1,394 yards and 12 touchdowns.
On January 2, 2014, Evans announced that he would forgo his final two seasons of his collegiate eligibility and enter the 2014 NFL draft. The majority of analysts and scouts projected Evans to be a consensus top 10 pick and a first-round draft selection. He was ranked the top wide receiver in the draft by Sports Illustrated and the second-best wide receiver by NFLDraftScout.com.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers selected Evans with the seventh overall pick in the 2014 NFL draft, one pick after his college teammate Jake Matthews. It was the first time Texas A&M had two Top 7 draft picks in the same draft since John Kimbrough and Jim Thomason in 1941. He was the second wide receiver taken after Sammy Watkins was picked by the Buffalo Bills with the fourth overall pick. On June 12, 2014, Evans signed a four-year rookie contract worth $14.6 million, with an $8.96 million signing bonus.
Evans made his professional regular season debut on September 7, 2014, in the Buccaneers' season-opener against the Carolina Panthers, logging five receptions for 37 yards. Three weeks later, he caught four passes for 65 yards, including his first career touchdown on a seven-yard pass from Mike Glennon in a 27–24 victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers. During a Week 9 22–17 loss to the Cleveland Browns, Evans caught seven passes for 124 yards and two touchdowns. The following week, he had seven receptions for 125 yards and a touchdown in a 27–17 loss to the Atlanta Falcons.
On November 16, 2014, in a 27–7 victory over the Washington Redskins, Evans recorded seven receptions for 209 yards and two touchdowns. He became the first rookie receiver to have three consecutive games of 100 yards and at least one touchdown since Randy Moss in 1998. Evans also became the youngest player in NFL history to catch for 200 or more yards in one game. Evans was also the fifth rookie of the Super Bowl era to record 200 receiving yards and two touchdowns in a game, the first player to accomplish that feat since Anquan Boldin in 2003. He received National Football Conference (NFC) Offensive Player of the Week honors for his spectacular performance.
Evans finished his rookie season with 68 receptions for 1,051 yards and 12 touchdowns, setting franchise records and becoming a part of the first pair of Buccaneers receivers (alongside veteran Vincent Jackson) to receive 1,000 yards in a single season together. Evans was ranked tied for fourth in the NFL in receiving touchdowns. He was named to the PFWA All-Rookie Team. He was ranked 75th by his fellow players on the NFL Top 100 Players of 2015.
On September 20, 2015, Evans appeared in his first game of the season against the New Orleans Saints after missing the season-opener with a hamstring injury. The next week, Evans caught seven passes for 101 yards in a 19–9 loss to the Houston Texans. During Week 7 against the Redskins, Evans caught eight passes for a season-high 164 yards and a touchdown in a 31–30 loss. On November 8, 2015, Evans caught eight passes for 150 yards in a 32–18 loss to the New York Giants. The following game, he finished with another eight receptions for 126 yards during a 10–6 victory over the Dallas Cowboys. On December 17, 2015, he made a season-high nine receptions for 157 yards against the St. Louis Rams.
In 15 games, Evans recorded 74 receptions for 1,206 yards and three touchdowns, with an average of 16.3 yards per catch.
Evans started the Buccaneers' 2016 season opener, making five receptions for 99 yards and a touchdown in a 31–24 defeat of the Falcons. On September 25, 2016, Evans caught 10 passes for 132 yards and a touchdown in a 37–32 loss to the Los Angeles Rams. Evans became the first player in the Buccaneers' history to catch a touchdown pass in three consecutive games to start a season. During a Week 7 victory over the San Francisco 49ers, Evans caught eight passes for 96 yards and two touchdowns. On November 3, 2016, he caught a season-high 11 passes for 150 yards and two touchdowns in a 43–28 loss to the Falcons. He caught a pass on the sidelines which was debated as the "catch of the year" at NFL.com and suffered a helmet-to-helmet hit on the play and was placed on concussion protocol. On November 27, 2016, he caught eight passes for 104 receiving yards and two touchdowns in a 14–5 victory over the Seattle Seahawks, becoming the fourth player in NFL history to begin his career with three consecutive seasons of 1,000 yards receiving. He was also the first receiver in franchise history with two receiving touchdowns in the first quarter of a game. On December 20, 2016, Evans was selected to the Pro Bowl, the first of his career. His selection made him the first Buccaneers receiver since Vincent Jackson in 2012 to be picked, and the first receiver drafted by the Buccaneers to be selected for the Pro Bowl since Mark Carrier in 1989. On January 1, 2017, Evans caught 5 passes for 65 yards and 1 touchdown in a 17–16 win against the Panthers tying his franchise record of 12 receiving touchdowns in a single season.
Evans finished his third season off with 96 receptions for 1,321 yards and 12 touchdowns in 16 starts. He was ranked 29th by his peers on the NFL Top 100 Players of 2017.
On April 17, 2017, the Buccaneers picked up the fifth-year option on Evans's contract.