On Tuesday's Halftime Heat, Ian Beckles doesn't want to hear about Tom Brady's "retirement," while Jay Recher says Mike Evans is MORE than just a great player!
IAN BECKLES:
I won’t spend One minute on this show talking about whether Tom Brady is going to retire or not.
I hate when other people try and get into the brain of an athlete and read their mind. Tom Brady is going to retire when he is good and ready, and personally I do not believe that walking off the field In Raymond James Stadium last Sunday was the way that the greatest Tom Brady wants to go out.
Can you think of another athlete who’s just stepped away from the game when they were still top five in the league? Brady is exactly that, and he was three points away from bringing these Buccaneers to the NFC Championship Game once again. Of course, family plays a big role in all athletes' decisions, but football isn’t out of Tom Brady‘s system yet, and there’s nothing in the world that can fill that void when football is gone. My retirement still bothers me at the age of 54. Tom Brady will not be able to sit on his couch in 2022 and watch 30 lesser quarterbacks participate in the NFL.
I know Giselle is fine as frog hair and she may make more than Tom, but she doesn’t want a miserable Tom in the house. And miserable is what he will undoubtedly be without football.
My prediction is that Tom and The Fam sit down and have a discussion about Tom playing one more year, and 2022 will be a swan-song year with all of the fanfare that he deserves.
You guys and gals can go ahead and discuss Brady retiring. I’m out.
Go Bucs!
JAY RECHER:
We’re so damn lucky.
That’s what I was thinking sitting in the press room after the Bucs loss to the Rams listening to Bucs star receiver Mike Evans speak.
He caught 8 passes for 119 yards including a 55 yard TD pass with Jalen Ramsey covering him that sent shock waves through the crowd at Raymond James Stadium, but still said that “he needed to play better”.
You know the stats, most consecutive seasons in NFL history of 1,000 yards receiving to begin a career with 8. The youngest player w/ 200 or more yards in a game. Youngest player to reach both the 6,000 & 7,000 yard mark for a career. He holds at least 13 Bucs franchise records, from what I can find but I’m sure there’s a ton more.
I remember his first year vividly, because that was my first year at DAE.
Think back to the draft. Some people around these parts wanted Aaron Donald, some wanted OBJ, hell some people wanted Johnny Manziel.
I’m glad we got Mike.
It’s cool to know that you’re watching a guy week in and week out that will not only have his name at Raymond James Stadium in the Ring of Honor, but also immortalized with the greatest to ever play this game in Canton at the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
And speaking of week in, week out, let’s not forget that in 8 years of playing for the Bucs, he’s played in at least 15, 7 of them. Hell, he’s only missed seven games TOTAL in his career. And you know damn well, he’s been banged up and played through injury.
But for the accomplishments on the field, I appreciate the kind of guy Mike is OFF the field even more.
Mike and his wife Ashli founded the Mike Evans Family Foundation in December 2017 to help victims of domestic violence and he continues to be a pillar not only here in Tampa, but in his hometown of Galveston, Texas.
This one story of Mike will always stick with me.
Years ago when I was a part-time producer at DAE, I wanted to write a story on my dude Gary, who owns G Cuts Barbershop here in Tampa. At the time he had a bunch of players coming to get a cut from him including Jameis Winston, Kwon Alexander and Mike Evans. So after training camp at One Buc, I went over to those guys to get a quote for the story and Jameis and Kwon gave it to me right there, but Mike told me that he’d catch back up to me after signing for fans.
I was still a pup here at DAE so I didn’t know if he was going to come back or if he was going to blow me off or whatever.
Mike finishes up with fans and heads inside, dude gets one foot in the door before stopping and turning around. He turns around and is looking out and finally he sees me and waves me over.
“My bad, almost forgot. I told you I got you. Anything for my man G.”
That’s the kind of guy Mike Evans.
We’re so damn lucky.
Cover Photo: Getty Images