Coming off a super bowl victory, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers have brought everybody back this season, including the ever consistent Mike Evans. He has had a 1,000-yard season every year in his seven year career. While Evans has proven to be an elite wide receiver in the NFL, he also has the same competition he had last year for targets. For fantasy football players, this will have an impact on his draft value. What are the advantages and disadvantages in drafting Mike Evans to a fantasy football team?
Mike Evans Fantasy Football Profile
The Good
Mike Evans is a receiver who will haul in multiple touchdowns this season. He finished fourth in the NFL last year among wide receivers in touchdowns with 13. While touchdowns are fluky, it was no coincidence that this happened with Tom Brady in his first year in Tampa Bay last year. Brady, who has a habit of sticking to his favourites in the red zone, is back again this year. Evans should once again find a way to get open for Brady when the Bucs get in the red zone. Evans is also incredibly durable, having played less than 15 games only once in seven NFL seasons. Evans should once again share the vast majority of targets with Chris Godwin in a high-powered Buccaneers offense. From a season-long perspective, he has a relatively safe floor.
The Bad
While Evans had a good statistical season last year, a vast majority of that came in only a handful of games. In half of his games last year, he had fewer than five receptions. His infamous games included a one reception for two yards game, a two receptions for two yards game, and a one reception for ten yards game. His ability to disappear in games is scary. He had his lowest yards per game (62.9) and targets (109) of his entire career last season. The number of targets is especially concerning because the same group of wide receivers will be back this season.
The Buccaneers tendency to spread the ball around to different receivers and not funnel most of their targets to one or two guys is what makes them dangerous in real life but terrible for fantasy. All of this combined with his career year in the touchdown department makes you wonder how productive he will be if his touchdown numbers do come back down to earth next season.
The Verdict
Mike Evans has been a number one type of wide receiver for most of his career. At age 28, he should have no issue being a solid WR2 for fantasy managers coming into next season. What is a red flag is his inconsistency week to week. As a fantasy owner, there is comfort when a player brings a guarantee of a weekly floor. Evans’ ability to single-handedly lose fantasy football games is too much to overcome. Currently drafted as WR14 on ESPN, there are other more appealing options at wide receiver in that range. Evans’ ceiling is limited, and there are players with more upside for where he is being drafted in the middle rounds. Competing for targets in a crowded offense and touchdown-dependent, Evans is a fade heading into the 2021 season.
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