Mike Evans bounced back last year after Tampa Bay brought in Baker Mayfield as the new quarterback. Evans is in a position to be the top receiver again in the Buccaneers offense, but how should he be viewed from a fantasy perspective this year?
2024 Fantasy Football Profile: Mike Evans
2023 in Review
Evans finished last season with 13 touchdowns which is the third time in the last four years he’s finished with 13+ touchdowns. The season he did not reach that total was in 2022 which was Tom Brady’s final year. In 2023, he posted 1,255 yards and averaged 15.9 yards per catch. He finished as the WR4 in standard formats and the WR7 in PPR formats.
LEGEND: #Bucs WR Mike Evans needs just 6 touchdown receptions to become the 5th player in HISTORY with at least 100 TD receptions in his first 11 seasons.
Evans will join 5 of the GOATS: Jerry Rice, Randy Moss, Marvin Harrison & Terrell Owens.
MIKE EVANS IS A TOP-10 WR ALL-TIME pic.twitter.com/8JjjoVoRbp
— MLFootball (@_MLFootball) August 21, 2024
The reason for this difference was because Evans racked up most of his points from yards and touchdowns. There was often miscommunication between him and Mayfield as Evans caught just 58% of his total targets. That’s an abysmal number to say the least and one neither Evans nor Mayfield want to look at again.
Evans also had a few weeks where he was essentially not involved in the Buccaneers offense at all. The Saints found a way to eliminate him from the gameplan as he had less than 20 points between the two matchups combined last year.
2024 Projection
This season presents a unique situation for Evans. There’s been speculation for the last 3-4 years wondering when Evans is going to fall off a cliff and stop producing. Fantasy owners thought last year was going to be that year especially with as bad as 2022 was for Evans. However, that was not the case.
The good news is the pass-catching options for Tampa Bay are similar in that nobody is going to steal considerable targets from Evans. Chris Godwin and Cade Otton were there last year when Evans had a strong season. Evans’ stats this year are going to be dependent upon whether or not him and Mayfield clean up their relationship.
Happy 31st Birthday to Mike Evans 🎂
The only player in NFL history to start their career with 10 straight 1000+ yard seasons 🐐
— NFL Retweet (@NFLRT) August 21, 2024
Evans has never had a season in the NFL with less than 1,000 yards and has never averaged less than 13.8 yards per catch. Given how much of a role he should have this year on a team that is trying to win the NFC South again, it’s hard to see Evans have less than 1,000 yards and less than 10 touchdowns.
Mike Evans Fantasy Football ADP
FantasyPros lists Evans’ ADP at 37 with a range of 16-50. Those taking him at 16 are living in 2016 as he’s not that worthy of a pick that high anymore. Evans is still a good player, but he’s not second-round pick material. However, he’s someone who shouldn’t be falling to 50 because he can still produce great numbers.
Evans in the second tier of wide receiver rankings based on his age and talent. He’s on the lower end of WR1 talent but still manageable there. If you can get him as your WR2, that’s a perfect place to be as he’s more than a WR2. If a WR1.5 existed, Mike Evans would be the fit for that role. Grabbing him in Rounds 3-4 is a spot you can’t go wrong.
Main Photo Courtesy of Lon Horwedel – USA Today Sports
