The Tampa Bay Buccaneers continue to load up on former Patriots, as the team reportedly signed Antonio Brown to a one-year deal late on Friday night. Brown, of course, was one of the best receivers in the league at the peak of his career. However, he’s only played one game in the past two years and nobody truly knows how much he has left in his tank. What can fantasy football owners expect from Brown, and how will his presence affect Chris Godwin and Mike Evans?
Fantasy Football: Antonio Brown, Chris Godwin, Mike Evans Rest of Season Outlook
Antonio Brown
Antonio Brown has an incredibly wide range of outcomes. On one hand, he hasn’t played football in essentially two years, hasn’t been in an NFL facility since September of 2019, and obviously hasn’t practiced with his new team. On the other hand, he is (or was) one of the NFL’s best talents and has a history with both head coach Bruce Arians and quarterback Tom Brady. Brady, in particular, played a large part in convincing the organization to take a risk on the former Pittsburgh Steeler.
Brady clearly wants Brown around, and the two played well together during their limited time on the field. In 2019, Brady and Brown connected on four of their eight targets for 56 yards and a touchdown. While this is obviously a small sample, it’s worth noting that Brown looked good out there and he was an elite option as recently as 2018.
Antonio Brown obviously isn’t going to regain his peak form. However, his experience with Arians’ system and history with Tom Brady should allow him to pick things up relatively quickly. Adding to this is the state of Tampa Bay’s receiving options. While Godwin and Evans are both back on the field, both players are currently battling through some injury.
This should allow Brown to see the field relatively early, and Brady will look his way. Considering Brady still looks like a great quarterback and this offense should be scoring a lot of points, this means Brown should carry some fantasy relevance throughout the season. You should definitely pick him up, as he offers a WR2 ceiling with solid week-to-week touchdown upside.
Chris Godwin
Chris Godwin has not lived up to his average draft position in fantasy football. However, it’s hard to blame the fourth-year star for those shortcomings. The former third-round pick suffered an injury late in Week 1, and re-aggravated it in Week 3. He came back for Week 6 and should be healthy enough moving forward.
Godwin has been Brady’s favorite receiver in his three games, as he’s on a 16-game pace of 85 receptions for 1,019 yards and five touchdowns when on the field. It’s also worth noting that, without Brown, this projection would probably increase. Godwin clearly wasn’t himself in Week 3, and Week 6 turned into an unexpected blowout as the Buccaneers took their foot off the gas in the second half.
Brown might steal one or two targets a game, but Godwin will remain the top option in this passing attack. Assuming he’s healthy enough to play, he should lead the team in targets and be a borderline WR1 for the rest of the season. Truthfully, now would be the perfect time to contact the Chris Godwin owner in your league and see if you can acquire him for pennies on the dollar.
Mike Evans
Mike Evans had plenty of warning signs even before the Antonio Brown signing. The star receiver has had a solid season to date, recording 23 receptions for 281 yards and six touchdowns through six games. However, the underlying numbers paint an uncomfortable picture for the former first-round pick.
Evans has struggled to carry any type of fantasy relevance when sharing a field with Godwin. In those three games, Evans has recorded a combined four receptions for 14 yards and three touchdowns. This is obviously awful, and playing through injury can only explain so much. Unlike Jameis Winston, Brady prefers to spread the ball around and his safer style of play leads to fewer shootouts. This means that only one or two receivers will have fantasy relevance on a weekly basis, and that will probably be Godwin and Brown, at least until Evans is fully healthy.
Now, this doesn’t mean you should drop Mike Evans. He’s still an incredibly talented receiver, and he’s the best red zone weapon this team has. However, right now he probably won’t be anything more than a touchdown-dependent flex play. Players like that can still be good for fantasy, but he’ll be a high-risk, medium-reward player from here on out.
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