Tampa Bay Buccaneers receiver Mike Evans is entering his 9th season in the NFL. He is trying to extend his record of consecutive 1,000-yard seasons to begin a career with eight. The Buccaneers entered last season having the best receiving core in the NFL. But with Antonio Brown no longer on the team and Chris Godwin recovering from a knee injury, Evans is the lone star left in the Buccaneers passing game. Rob Gronkowski also retiring opens up a slew of available targets. Evans is one of a few receivers who can finish as the wide receiver one in 2022.
2022 Fantasy Football Outlook: Mike Evans
2021 Season Recap
Mike Evans is known for being a low catch high touchdown guy due to his lack of targets. In 2021 Evans only had a target share of 16% although it didn’t negatively affect him as he scored a career-high 14 touchdowns catches. That was good enough for 2nd in the league behind triple crown winner Cooper Kupp. Evans was part of a Buccaneers offense that was number 1 in passing yards per game and 2nd in total points. Evans alongside Brown, Godwin, and Gronkowski was the best group of pass catchers in the league.
2022 Outlook
Mike Evans enters 2022 as the Buccaneers true only legit receiver for the first time in 6 years. Gronkowski retiring and Godwin still recovering from an injury leaves Evans in a position to dominate targets to open the season. The Buccaneers did sign five-year veteran Russell Gage but he won’t impact Evans targets. Gage is primarily a slot receiver and he comes with fantasy value himself but he is a distant second behind Evans. With Godwin set to miss the beginning of the season, Evans looks to get off to a fast start to begin the year.
Over the last two years, Mike Evans has played 6 games without Chris Godwin in the lineup. His stat lines in those games:
* 7/104/1
* 7/122/1
* 5/41/1
* 5/55/1
* 4/47/1
* 6/89/2Godwin (ACL) is expected to miss multiple games to start the year #FantasyFootball pic.twitter.com/lvlzmdqfc3
— Fantasy Footballers (@TheFFBallers) July 15, 2022
The Buccaneers have the 2nd easiest schedule of pass defenses, that’ll allow Evans to get off to a solid start even after Godwin returns from injury.
Average Draft Position
Mike Evans is currently being drafted as WR10 and 27th overall making him an early third-round pick. This is the perfect value and the right spot for him. Some of the receivers being drafted ahead of him are CeeDee Lamb and Tyreek Hill. Lamb being drafted ahead of him makes some sense but Evans should clearly be ahead of Hill. The uncertainty that comes with Hill adjusting to a new quarterback is enough to trust Evans more than Hill.
Main Photo: Embed from Getty Images
