Mike Evans continues to go where no other NFL wide receiver has gone before.
On Sunday against the Carolina Panthers, Evans extended his own NFL record by surpassing the 1,000-yard receiving mark for the ninth straight season. He was already the first player in league history to start his career with at least seven such campaigns; the previous record of six was held by Hall of Famer Randy Moss.
Evans entered Sunday's game with 917 yards on the season and moved past 1,000 on a 63-yard touchdown reception in the 2nd quarter.
Evans' streak is noteworthy even beyond his ever-growing record to start a career. His nine straight 1,000-yard receiving season ties Hall of Famer Tim Brown (1993-2001) for the second longest streak at any point of a player's career. Only Hall of Famer Jerry Rice, who topped 1,000 receiving yards for 11 straight seasons from 1986 to 1996, had a longer streak.
The seventh-overall pick in the 2014 draft, Evans started his career with a 1,051-yard campaign as a rookie and improved to 1,206 in his second year and 1,321 in his third, then peaked at a Buccaneers single-season record of 1,524 yards in 2018. He has averaged 75.5 yards per game in his career coming into Sunday's contest. He is Tampa Bay's all-time leader in receptions, receiving yards, touchdown receptions, total touchdowns and yards from scrimmage.
Overall, Evans is now tied for third in NFL history in most 1,000-yard receiving seasons. Rice holds the record with 14 and Moss is next with 10. Evans joins a group of four other players with nine such seasons, tying Brown, Larry Fitzgerald, Terrell Owens and Jimmy Smith.
