NEW ORLEANS -- It takes a lot to move a 6-foot-5, 250-pound physical receiver like Mike Evans, but after the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' 31-24 loss to the New Orleans Saints on Saturday, the star wideout sat in an empty visitors locker room on Christmas Eve with his head down, his shoulders hunched over and his light brown eyes growing misty as he slowly put on his socks.
It wasn’t the sting of a loss and a missed playoff opportunity that brought him to tears in this moment -- although carrying the weight of a team’s offense the way he has this year could certainly do that -- but rather because he learned how a small gesture on his part made one family’s Christmas -- particularly one teenage boy's Christmas -- just a little bit more bearable.