Every hero needs a sidekick: Batman has Robin, Frodo Baggins has Samwise Gamgee, and even Shrek has a talking Donkey. Not all heroes wear capes. Some wear shoulder pads and helmets, and in the NFL the mightiest ones usually line up under center.
That’s why assembling the right team around them is half the battle. So if the New York Giants want to give franchise quarterback Jaxson Dart the perfect sidekick, future Hall of Fame wide receiver Mike Evans could be sitting right there in free agency, just waiting for general manager Joe Schoen to flip on the Bat-Signal.
Related: Giants Free-Agency Tracker 2026: Signings, departures, cap space analysis, and more
The 32-year-old Buccaneer probably won’t be waiting around for long. Few teams need receiver help quite like the G-Men right now. It’s Malik Nabers and not much else. Convincing a Super Bowl LV champion to join an upstart Giants team might take some selling, though.
After an injury-riddled 2025 and with 12 seasons already under his belt, Evans could be the perfect splash signing without breaking the bank. Spotrac projects his market value around $13 million per season, and landing a player of his caliber at that price would be a pretty sweet deal for the Giants.
Mike Evans is the hero Jaxson Dart deserves, and the one he needs right now
Big Blue needs to surround its 22-year-old electric QB with more weapons. When Nabers and Cam Skattebo went down with season-ending injuries in Weeks 4 and 8, the offense quickly turned one-dimensional and painfully vanilla.
With Wan’Dale Robinson’s future up in the air as he hits free agency, the Giants could use another playmaker in the passing game. Even if Robinson does return, there’s no such thing as too much help for Dart. Evans isn’t the slot receiver Robinson is, but the 6-foot-5 Texas A&M product does just about everything else at an elite level.
The six-time Pro-Bowler is one of one. Last season marked the first time in his career that he didn’t clear 1,000 receiving yards, which tells you everything you need to know about the standard he’s set.
He started his career with an NFL-record 11 straight seasons with 1,000-plus yards. The guy is an absolute demon, and he’s exactly the type of security blanket and floor raiser a young quarterback needs, especially early in their development. Look no further than Baker Mayfield's career resurgence in Tampa. He's a bit older than Dart, but it's no surprise he's had the three best seasons of his career throwing to the matchup nightmare.
If the G-Men truly want to set Dart up to succeed, pairing him with a veteran like Evans makes almost too much sense. Young quarterbacks need reliable targets, and few receivers in the league have been more dependable over the last decade. Heroes may get the spotlight, but every one of them needs a sidekick. Evans might be the perfect one for Big Blue.