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Baker Mayfield Makes A Mike Evans-Ted Hurst Comparison August 18th, 2026Joe has not hidden being almost-crazy excited about Ted Hurst. The rookie receiver is dripping with talent and has been consistently looking dangerous in training camp. And Joe is not talking about “dangerous” as in SirVocea Dennis in coverage or for Bucs safety Sabby The Goat Piscitelli taking a tackling angle. Hurst has strong hands, great body control, good speed and a way of making difficult catches look easy. Joe’s also been told his YAC (yards after catch) is damn special and will open eyes when it’s shown. Today, Joe asked Baker Mayfield how he looks at Hurst after two consecutive seasons of special rookie receivers: Jalen McMillan (8 touchdowns as a rookie) and Emeka Egbuka. “Ted is, I mean he’s growing quickly,” Mayfield said. “He’s picking things up really fast, and so that’s good for us. It’s allowing him to play fast, not think and just use his size and speed. You guys have seen it – he’s high-pointing the ball, really taking advantage of his 1-on-1 matchups, just contested catches, things like that. When you’re a bigger receiver at 6-4, you want to be a safety blanket for those 50-50 balls. So I feel really confident where Ted is at.” Asked about Hurst in the red zone, Mayfield dropped a Mike Evans comparison. “We talk about how would we look at it with Mike down in the red zone; if you’re not going to double-cover him, we’re going to throw it to him,” Mayfield said of Hurst. “And Ted is growing into his own right now; so we’re going to try and take advantage of those matchups as well.” For 12 seasons, it seemed to be a given. If Evans was singled covered in the red zone, the Bucs quarterback went his way. It was a sound strategy. Last week in a 1-on-1 sitdown with Joe, Todd Bowles noted how Hurst can make contested catches with the best in the game. Is it Week 1 yet?