In Baker Mayfield's first season as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers starter, a campaign that ended with the Buccaneers in the Divisional Round of the playoffs and Mayfield in the Pro Bowl, he targeted Mike Evans more than any other player in the passing game. It made sense; as Mayfield himself has said, "50/50" balls thrown in Evans' direction really tilt towards a higher percentage for the receiver.
It wasn't a big targets lead for Evans because the Buccaneers also have Chris Godwin, who can also do a lot for his quarterback with his precise route-running, reliable hands and run-after-the-catch ability. Evans finished with 136 targets, Godwin with 130. Godwin had a few more receptions, Evans had a couple hundred more yards and a lot more touchdowns.
Through three games this season, Godwin has a 25-15 edge in targets over Evans, with 11 more catches, 133 more yards and one more touchdown. On one hand, this is actually great news – Godwin is having his best season since his 2019 Pro Bowl campaign and has been winning on short, intermediate and deep routes. He's already scored one more touchdown than the did all of last season. Godwin's fast start is a great outcome for Liam Coen's new offense.
That said, as Evans showed in a two-touchdown performance in this season's opener, he's as dangerous as ever and the Bucs want him to remain a central focus in their passing attack. On Monday, Head Coach Todd Bowles said the offense has to get him "more involved," and Mayfield knows that as well. Nobody wants Mayfield to force the ball to Evans at the expense of making the right read, but Evans is going to give his quarterback opportunities to look his way.
"[I] definitely just try to get him going early, early and often, just to get him involved," said Mayfield. "You want to look at your priority calls early on and try to get all of our guys a touch at least, just to get them going, and then let the defense still dictate where the ball needs to go but then understanding one-on-one matchups, understanding who Mike is. So yeah, just trusting that [and] getting him the ball."
Evans was targeted only three times in the team's Week Three loss to Denver, and clearly the pressure that led to Mayfield getting sacked seven times raised the level of difficulty in getting through his reads. But Mayfield has since taken responsibility for some of those sacks, and it's likely there were some Mayfield-to-Evans connections that could have been made had he gotten the timing right on his decisions.
"There's a fine line of trusting the timing of your feet, and you know – like I said after the game on Sunday, some of those in the second half were definitely on me," said Mayfield. "[I was] getting a little bit antsy, not trusting it as much – so just trusting the timing of my footwork and delivering the ball, going through the reads true to what they are, and then if I have to make a play, [I'll] make a play from there or throw it away. So yeah, there's things that everybody can do to contribute to that."
Mayfield knows how to correct the issues from Sunday's loss, and he clearly knows how to get the football to Evans.
"Slowing it down," he said. "For me, slowing it down mentally, going through my reads a little bit slower, not letting the rush speed up my timing, my reads, going through it true to what it is and to go from there."
