The NFL said in a statement that a postgame interaction between two game officials and Mike Evans did not involve a request for an autograph.
Following the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ 21-3 loss Sunday to the Carolina Panthers, 1340 AM Fox Sports captured video of side judge Jeff Lamberth and line judge Tripp Sutter calling Evans’ name. Evans then wrote something on a card they handed him.
After conversations with those involved, however, the league determined that Lamberth and Sutter weren’t asking for an autograph.
“I wasn’t signing my autograph, I’ll tell you that,” Evans said. “I talk to a lot of officials, we’re all human beings. He’s a nice guy, so we was talking about golf. That’s all we was talking about.”
NFL Network reported that Lamberth, like Evans, went to Texas A&M and wanted the receiver’s phone number to give to a golf professional so he could give Evans lessons. Lamberth didn’t have a card for Evans to write his number on, so he borrowed one from Sutter.
