The Facts: Much like Randy Moss, Evans was a high school basketball star who entered the national radar as a college football phenom. Moss went on to set the NFL rookie record with 17 touchdowns in 1998 while Evans broke Tampa Bay's single-season franchise record with 12 touchdowns in his debut season. Noting those similarities, Moss took Evans under his wing for a week of workouts earlier in the offseason. "It was just me and him," Evans said. "I was up for there in North Carolina for about a week at the end of March. There's a lot of knowledge there, man."
Diehards Line:
As NFL.com's Chris Wesseling suggests, Evans might not share Moss' game-breaking speed, but both receivers specialize in coming down with contested catches, taking full advantage of long arms, big hands, a huge vertical leap and uncanny body control. Given all that, picking the brain of an all-time great wide receiver can only help, even if Evans might be overstating the impact of a week's worth of workouts. But Wesseling notes there are more tangible reasons to expect improvement in Evans this year. Evans ran a limited route tree as the rookie "Z" receiver under ex-QBs coach Marcus Arroyo, who was shoehorned into an offensive coordinator role for which he was not prepared. Former Falcons coordinator Dirk Koetter, now in Tampa, is moving Evans around the formation this offseason, essentially adopting the second-year wideout as his new version of Julio Jones. Wesseling went on to suggest that between the move to the "X" position, improved play-calling from Koetter and No. 1 overall pick Jameis Winston's willingness to take chances down the field, Evans might soon find himself among the league's elite receivers.