A Scout's Take on the Development of Rookie Wide Receiver Mike Evans

As I often get to do, I had an opportunity to talk with scout Chris Landry on 620 WDAE's The Steve Duemig Show. I wanted to get Landry's take on the development of rookie wide receiver Mike Evans of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Before the 2014 NFL draft, I thought Evans would be a logical choice for the Bucs to select in the first round. And that is exactly what they did.

But Evans has had a number of injury issues since training camp. First, he had hamstring issues in camp, and now he won't be able to play in the game against the Saints in New Orleans on Sunday due to a groin injury.

Still, Evans has shown in a brief four-game window that he has plenty of upside as he continues his career with the Bucs. So far in 2014, Evans has 17 catches for 203 yards and a touchdown.

Landry believes that Evans will be just fine as time goes on and that he has had to deal with a number of circumstances that have hindered his development a bit.

"Mike Evans is going to be fine," Landry said. "He's going to be a good player. With lingering injuries, you always try to study if there is something conditionally or nutrition-wise that you can do better. Some of it's just bad luck.

"The other thing is that the development has been slow because of a lot of things. We seen a lot of changes. The quarterback play has been very inconsistent. The protection has been very inconsistent. You have been behind in a lot of games.

"There are a lot of things that are going to affect the development of an individual player that's affected by the overall team concept. I think that they can do things and will do things eventually. Let me throw this in here, I think [Marcus] Arroyo is a good young coach, but he was hired for a certain role (quarterbacks coach), and unfortunately due to Jeff's [Tedford] illness, I don't think we are seeing everything we would see.

"Play-calling is an art form. Game-planning is an art form. So I think that they are left a little shorthanded there. But everyone is. Marcus has done a really good job. But it's tough. All those things affect maybe some of the things you can do.

"I would be very surprised if Mike doesn't become a really good threat in the red zone on the fade route. I think he's got those types of abilities. He can go up and high-point the ball, and he proved that in college. I think he'll be very good in the NFL. I think he's good enough to make an average quarterback look a little better. I think he's that good."

That's high praise from one of the best in the business in the scouting industry. As Landry says, once the offense of the Bucs becomes more cohesive and consistent, the sky is the limit for a player of the stature of Evans.