BuccaneersFan.com • Player Spotlight • Tampa Bay No. 86
Current official portrait: Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Long snapper • Third NFL playing season
A specialist’s path to Tampa Bay
Evan Deckers
- Born
- February 23, 1999
- Hometown
- Avon, Connecticut
- Listed size
- 6 feet 3 inches • 252 pounds
- High school
- Avon Old Farms School • Connecticut
- College
- UMass, 2018–2021 • Duke, 2022
- NFL entry
- Undrafted • Signed May 12, 2023
- Regular-season debut
- 2024 • Tampa Bay Buccaneers
- Current assignment
- Primary long snapper • No. 86
Sources: Bucs roster, Duke biography, UMass biography, 2023 transactions and current depth chart. Avon is his listed hometown.
NFL figures stop after November 1, 2026 (Week 8), checked November 3. Sources: NFL game log, college career summary and 2025 weekly snap entries. See the statistical notes.
When Tampa Bay’s punt or field-goal unit takes the field, Evan Deckers has a precise assignment: deliver the ball to the punter or holder and help the operation proceed. No. 86 earned that responsibility after an undrafted signing, a return to camp and a successful competition for the job. The specialists’ assignments; his path into the lineup.
For the Krewe, this spotlight is a chance to follow a different part of the game. Deckers’s story includes the work of a specialist, two college degrees and a cause connected to his family. There is plenty to know about the player delivering that first snap.
An opening, a return and a place in the lineup
Earning the job, then keeping it
2023 The first opportunity.
Tampa Bay signed Deckers on May 12, 2023. He was waived at the August 29 roster cutdown and later spent December 13–19 on the practice squad. That brief return was another step toward a chance to compete the following summer. The transaction record.
2024 Winning the long-snapping role.
A January 30 reserve/futures contract brought him back. He won the camp competition against Zach Triner and played the first three games. A hamstring injury led to injured reserve on September 24; after six missed games, he was activated on November 9. His return contract; the injury move; activation.
2025–2026 Building continuity.
Deckers handled the assignment in all 17 games in 2025. Another competition followed in 2026, this time with Scott Daly. Deckers retained the roster spot, keeping Tampa Bay’s specialist trio together for the new season. 2025 participation; the 2026 roster decision.
A cause connected to family
New England roots on an NFL stage
My Cause My Cleats
2024
NEW ENGLAND DAIRY
A campaign choice honoring
his family’s farming roots.
FAMILY, FARMING & FOOTBALL
Deckers selected New England Dairy for the 2024 campaign. The organization connected his choice to his family’s Taft’s Milk and Maple Farm in Huntington, Vermont, and shared photographs with his grandparents, Bruce and Mary Taft. The family story.
New England Dairy said the planned cleat auction would support dairy farmers and food-access programs. Tampa Bay also documented his selection in its campaign announcement. The Bucs’ cause list.
Three specialists • A shared operation
Deckers, Dixon and McLaughlin
Tampa Bay opened 2026 with the same specialist trio it used in 2025: Deckers snapping, Riley Dixon punting and holding, and Chase McLaughlin kicking. The team’s depth-chart report identifies each part of that arrangement. The returning specialist group.
The club’s camp preview framed Deckers’s competition around consistent snaps and contribution in punt coverage. Those are useful things for fans to watch: the delivery starts the operation, and the snapper’s involvement can continue downfield. They describe the demands of the position without assigning every kicking result to one player. The long-snapping competition.
There is also a teammate’s perspective in the club’s 2024 Deckers press conference, which discusses his progress over the previous year and appreciation for the players around him.
NFL regular season • 2024–2026
Appearances and documented special-teams work
Deckers played 11 games in 2024, 17 in 2025 and the first eight of 2026, giving him 36 regular-season appearances through this update.
| Season | Team | G | Specialist role |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | Tampa Bay | 11 | Long snapper |
| 2025 | Tampa Bay | 17 | Long snapper |
| 2026 — through Week 8 | Tampa Bay | 8 | Long snapper |
| NFL career through 2026 W8 | Tampa Bay | 36 | Long snapper |
G = games played. The NFL’s games-started field does not describe a long snapper’s primary special-teams assignment, so these tables focus on appearances.
Source note, November 3: The annual summary and career feed still show one 2026 game and 29 career games. The current game log records eight 2026 appearances. Adding those to his 28 games through 2025 gives the 36-game total used here.
2026 game-by-game participation • through Week 8
| Week | Date | Opponent | Tampa Bay result | G |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Week 1 | Sep. 13 | @ Cincinnati | L 27–33 | 1 |
| Week 2 | Sep. 20 | Cleveland | L 19–23 | 1 |
| Week 3 | Sep. 27 | Minnesota | L 16–23 | 1 |
| Week 4 | Oct. 4 | Green Bay | L 14–17 | 1 |
| Week 5 | Oct. 8 | @ Dallas | W 24–16 | 1 |
| Week 6 | Oct. 18 | Pittsburgh | L 19–26 (OT) | 1 |
| Week 7 | Oct. 25 | @ Carolina | W 43–13 | 1 |
| Week 8 | Nov. 1 | Atlanta | W 16–0 | 1 |
| Through Week 8 | 2026 | 8 games | 3–5 team record | 8 |
Scores show Tampa Bay first; @ indicates an away game and OT means overtime. Deckers appeared in every game listed. Tables scroll horizontally on small screens.
Source: official Buccaneers game log.
2025 detail: His 17 weekly special-teams snap entries add to 138 snaps. The same biography records a coverage tackle in Week 16 at Carolina. The snap total is a sum of the club’s weekly entries for that completed season. Official 2025 weekly highlights.
NFL postseason • One appearance
His first playoff assignment
Deckers appeared in the 2024 season’s Wild Card game on January 12, 2025, when Tampa Bay lost 23–20 to Washington. Official 2024 season results. The club’s 2025 player-bios guide records six special-teams snaps for him in that postseason appearance. The official player-bios guide.
NFL playoff participation • actual appearance
| NFL season | Game date | Round / opponent | Tampa Bay result | G | Special-teams snaps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | Jan. 12, 2025 | Wild Card / Washington | L 20–23 | 1 | 6 |
The playoff appearance is separate from his 36 regular-season games. He had no 2023 postseason appearance; Tampa Bay missed the 2025 playoffs, and the 2026 postseason had not begun.
UMass Minutemen • Duke Blue Devils
Five college seasons developing the craft
Deckers appeared in 40 games at UMass from 2018 through 2021, followed by 13 games at Duke in 2022. His 53 college appearances gave him experience with different specialist groups before he entered the NFL. Duke recorded 124 snaps during his season in Durham. UMass biography; Duke career record.
College appearances and long-snapping roles
| Season | School | G | Role |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | UMass | 12 | Long snapper; shared duties |
| 2019 | UMass | 12 | Long snapper |
| 2020 | UMass | 4 | Long snapper |
| 2021 | UMass | 12 | Long snapper |
| 2022 | Duke | 13 | Primary long snapper |
| UMass subtotal | 2018–2021 | 40 | Long snapper |
| College career | UMass / Duke | 53 | Long snapper |
G = games played. The 2022 bowl game is included in Duke’s season and the 53-game career total. Placekicking and punting results belong to the units he served, rather than individual kicking statistics for Deckers.
His Duke season finished with a 30–13 victory over UCF in the Military Bowl on December 28, 2022. He handled long-snapping duties on three field goals and three extra points in that game. The bowl report; official game record.
Five sports, two degrees and academic recognition
A broad education on and off the field
At Avon Old Farms, Deckers earned 10 varsity letters across five sports: football, golf, basketball, hockey and squash. He also spent time at center and quarterback. That background offers a fuller picture of the athlete who eventually concentrated on long snapping. His high-school record.
He graduated from UMass in December 2021 with a kinesiology degree, then completed a master’s in management studies at Duke’s Fuqua School of Business in May 2023. The UMass graduation record; Duke’s graduate announcement.
- 2021 preseason: Phil Steele All-Independent first team.
- 2022 season: Academic All-ACC, announced in 2023.
- 2023: NFF Hampshire Honor Society class.
Sources: UMass honors, Academic All-ACC announcement and the 2023 Hampshire class. The preseason selection and academic distinctions are labeled separately.
Watch the whole operation
Keep No. 86 in view
The next time Tampa Bay’s specialists take the field, follow the play from Deckers’s delivery onward. His place in that group came through repeated competition and preparation, and his story gives the Krewe another player to know when the unit takes its turn.
Sources & statistical notes
Updated November 3, 2026. NFL regular-season figures stop after November 1, Week 8. Postseason participation and completed college seasons are shown separately.
- NFL profile and participation: Bucs biography, game log, career table, 2024 season results and 2025 player-bios guide.
- The specialist’s path: 2023 transactions, 2024 transactions, return from injury, 2026 competition and roster decision.
- College and education: UMass, Duke, graduation, academic honors and Hampshire Honor Society.
- Community: New England Dairy’s family feature and the Bucs’ 2024 campaign announcement.