The Tampa Bay Buccaneers will compete in their 50th season this fall, as the NFL's 27th franchise began play in 1976. The first half century of Buccaneer action was filled with memorable moments, most notably a pair of Super Bowl championships, one in the 2002 season and one in the 2020 campaign. Most recently, the Buccaneers have compiled five straight playoff seasons and four straight NFC South Division titles, both franchise records. No team has ever won the NFC South five years in a row, so the Bucs can chase even more history in Season 50.

As we celebrate the Buccaneers' 50th season this year with a look back at the past 49 seasons plus a glimpse at the what he next 50 may hold, we are highlighting some of the best games, seasons and careers in franchise history. Today, our focus is on the top receivers ever to play for Tampa Bay, ranked by yards.

The Buccaneers are in a unique situation in that they are the only team whose top two all-time receiving yardage leaders are currently still playing for them. (We're not putting their names here because that's kind of the point of putting them in a list below.) To be clear, that's unique for the moment; there are other teams whose two leading receivers played together for a stretch. In fact, nearly half of the league, 15 teams in all, have that sort of duo.

However, the Buccaneers' receiving tandem (which is still unnamed) could still conceivably make history in this regard. The longest stretch of years in which the top two receiving yardage leaders for a franchise played together was 10 years, accomplished by Miami's famous Mark tandem, Duper and Clayton. After that, the next longest runs were both nine years, first for the Rams' Isaac Bruce and Torry Holt and then for the Panthers' Steve Smith and Muhsin Muhammad. The Colts' pairing of Marvin Harrison and Reggie Wayne lasted eight years.

And that's where the Bucs duo (whose names you totally can't guess) currently is sitting, at eight years as teammates, heading into a ninth. If they can stay together through 2027, they could have the mark all alone.

The Five Buccaneers with the Most Receiving Yards in Franchise History

1. Mike Evans, 12,684, 2014-24

Evans is the most prolific offensive player in franchise history by a wide margin, and he may eventually put this record out of reach. At the moment, he has exactly 400 more receiving yards than the players listed second and third here combined.

That happens when you surpass 1,000 yards as a rookie and then just keep doing it year after year after year. Evans, a near lock for the Pro Football Hall of Fame after his career is over, is probably most famous for his NFL record of 11 straight 1,000-yard seasons to begin a career. As of last year, he is now tied with Jerry Rice for the longest such streak at any point in a player's career, and only Rice has more total 1,000-yard campaigns, with 14.

Evans had 1,051 yards as a rookie after being drafted with the seventh-overall pick in 2014. Though Vincent Jackson had more catches than Evans that year, Evans led the team in yards; Jackson did get to 1,002 himself, making him and Evans the first duo in franchise history to each top 1,000 in the same season. In his 11 seasons so far, Evans has led the team in receiving yards in all but two of them.

After finishing with those 1,051 yards in 2014, Evans came the closest to missing the quadruple-digit mark in 2017, when he finished with 1,001 after catching a 16-yard pass with 43 seconds left in the season finale against New Orleans. In chronological terms, the closest call Evans had was just last season, when he had to go on a prolific end-of-season run to make up for nearly four games lost to injury. In this case, his nine-yard gain on the team's very last play from scrimmage in the regular season gave him 1,004 on the season and set off a wild celebration on the field and in the stands at Raymond James Stadium.

Evans' long list of franchise record's includes the single-season mark for receiving yards, which he set at 1,524 in 2018. That was the second of his six Pro Bowl seasons (so far). He was also third in the Offensive Rookie of the Year voting in 2014 and a second team Associated Press All-Pro in 2016 and 2023. If the 1,000-yard streak is the top line on his resume, his frequent trips to the end zone are the next line. He has 105 career touchdown receptions, which ranks ninth in NFL history, and if he scores a dozen more times in 2025 – something he has done in five different seasons already – he would move up to seventh.

2. Chris Godwin, 7,266 yards, 2017-2024

Godwin, a third-round pick out of Penn State in 2017 had the great fortune of joining a team that already had an established star receiver, and their careers have been intertwined to the benefit of both and the Buccaneers ever since. In the far less important pursuit of becoming a franchise's all-time leader in receiving yards, that was actually a stroke of misfortune, not that Godwin cares. Had Evans not been a Buccaneer, Godwin would have owned the record by the seventh game played in his sixth season, in 2022.

Godwin didn't immediately jump out of the gates with a 1,000-yard season like Evans did, but he got there by his third season in 2019, when he put up a career-high 1,333 yards despite missing two games. His average of 95.2 yards per game was second in the NFL that season to the Saints' Michael Thomas; in his career so far, Godwin has averaged 65.5 receiving yards per game.

Godwin missed five games in 2020 due to a concussion, a hamstring strain and a finger fracture and thus topped out at 840 yards. However, he came back to top 1,000 yards in each of the next three seasons, from 2021-23. He kept that streak alive despite sustaining a major knee injury in late December of 2021. Godwin worked hard to make it back for the start of 2022 and ended up catching a career-high 104 catches – just two shy of the team record – but averaging a career-low 9.8 yards per grab.

After a 1,024-yard season in 2023 in which new Offensive Coordinator Dave Canales elected to utilize him more as an outside receiver, Godwin returned to his primary duties as a slot receiver under Liam Coen in 2024 and was on his way to what might have been a career year if not for another devastating injury. Through seven games, Godwin was leading the NFL with 50 catches and was second with 576 receiving yards but he suffered a dislocated ankle and other leg injuries late in that seventh season. At the time, he was on pace for 121 catches for 1,399 yards and 12 touchdowns, all of which would have been career highs. After the 2024 season, the Buccaneers re-signed Godwin to a new three-year deal.

3. Mark Carrier, 5,018 yards, 1987-92

Carrier held the Buccaneers' career receiving record for 26 years before Evans broke it in the fifth game of his fifth season. Carrier himself had moved past the previous leader, Kevin House, in his penultimate game as a Buccaneer, with 28 yards against the 49ers on December 19, 1992.

Carrier played six seasons in Tampa after being drafted in the third round in 1987, the same draft that yielded quarterback Vinny Testaverde with the first-overall pick. He only played in 10 games with five starts with a rookie, in a season that saw a players strike resulting in three week's worth of games being played by replacement players. Carrier had 423 receiving yards that season but that total quickly ballooned to 970 yards in his second campaign, with Testaverde taking over as the team's starter in 1988.

In 1989, Carrier made the Pro Bowl after setting a team record with 1,422 receiving yards, a mark that held until Evans broke it in 2018. It remains the second-best mark in franchise history. That proved to be his only 1,000-yard season for the Buccaneers (he had another one for Carolina in 1995), but he averaged 734 yards per season over the next three years as well to become the first Buc with 5,000 career receiving yards.

Carrier topped 100 receiving yards nine times in his breakout 1989 season, still a team record for most 100-yard games in a season. In his career he would record 15 100-yard games, the third-most in team history behind Evans' 38 and Godwin's 22. After leaving the Bucs in 1993, Carrier played two seasons in Cleveland and four with the Panthers. He would finish his NFL career with 8,763 receiving yards.

4. Kevin House, 4,928 yards, 1980-86

At the end of the 1983 season, tight end Jimmie Giles was the Buccaneers' all-time leader with 3,139 yards but House was closing in on him with 2,914. The two would be teammates for most of the next three seasons (they would both be released in the same week in 1986), but House passed Giles for the top spot in Week Seven of the 1984 season, with a 67-yard game at Detroit. House never gave the lead back during his career but was eventually surpassed by Carrier after holding the top spot for about eight years.

The second-round pick out of Southern Illinois had 531 yards on 24 catches as a rookie but his robust 22.1 yards per grab hinted at something bigger around the corner. Sure enough, House averaged 21.0 yards per catch in his second season, 1981, and this time his 56 receptions produced the 1,176 yards, the first 1,000-yard receiving season in franchise history.

House would hit the 1,000-yard mark one more time for the Buccaneers, hauling in 76 passes for 1,005 yards in 1984. He also had 769 yards in 1983 and 803 in 1985. His earning potential, so to speak, over seven seasons in Tampa was limited by a players strike in 1982 that reduced the schedule to nine games. He topped out at 438 yards that year.

For his career, House averaged 17.3 yards per reception, including 17.2 as a Buccaneer. That remains a franchise career record to this day, and his 31 touchdowns are also a testament to his big-play ability. After being released by Leeman Bennett's Buccaneers in that 1986 season, House finished the season with the Los Angeles Rams, and though he only caught seven passes in eight games they went for 178 yards and two scores. He capped his career with one more season with the Rams in 1987, finishing with a total of 5,169 receiving yards.

5. Vincent Jackon, 4,326 yards, 2012-16

The first four players on this list were all drafted by the Buccaneers, but Jackson, who tragically passed away in 2021 at the age of 38 five years after his final NFL season, was one of the best free agency additions the franchise has ever made. He had already played seven seasons for the Chargers and notched three 1,000-yard seasons and two Pro Bowl appearances when he signed on with Tampa in 2012. He would follow that with three more 1,000-yard campaigns for the Buccaneers and another Pro Bowl berth.

Jackson's best season as a Buccaneer was his first. He caught 72 passes that year for a career-best 1,384 yards, which remains the third-highest single-season total in franchise history. He also scored eight times and led the NFL with an average of 19.2 yards per grab. That proved to be his final Pro Bowl season, but definitely not his last great season.

Jackson was almost as productive in 2013, adding a career-high 78 receptions for 1,224 yards and seven scores. He and Evans are the only two players in franchise history to have 1,200 receiving yards in two consecutive seasons; Evans did it in 2015 and 2016.

Speaking of Evans, his arrival in 2014 produced what was at the time the best duo of wide receivers in team history. As noted above, it was the first time that two Bucs teammates had surpassed 1,000 receiving yards in the same season, with Jackson finishing at 1,002. Even though Evans was clearly a star in the making, the Bucs' passing attack still featured his veteran teammate significantly. Jackson had set a career high with 160 targets in 2013, and that only fell to 142 in 2014 after the arrival of Evans.

Injuries and the toll of a long career caught up with Jackson in the final two years of his contract, as he produced 543 yards in 10 games in 2015 and 173 in five games in 2016 before retiring. Counting his time in San Diego, Jackson produced 9,080 career receiving yards and 57 touchdowns.