Mike Evans

Mike Evans has a new home with the 49ers, and he looks like a wonderful value in fantasy drafts. Yes, Evans dealt with hamstring issues again last year, but that wasn't the big limiting factor in his games played. That was related to a broken collarbone. For all of the injury talk about Evans, before the 2025 season, he had never played less than 13 games in any season, and since 2020 he had played at least 14 games in every season. Evans might be older, but he hasn't slowed down when you look at his metrics. Last year, during his seven full games played, he had a 24.4% target share, a 30.6% first-read share, and 0.116 first downs per route run (per Fantasy Points Data). Among 109 qualifying receivers last year, those numbers would have ranked 13th-best across the board. Yes, during that sample, he had only 1.86 yards per route run and 52.6 receiving yards per game, which would have ranked 31st and 33rd among the same group of receivers, but that was more related to Baker Mayfield's inaccuracy than Evans slowing down. In his full games played, Evans had only a 70.9% catchable target rate, which among those 109 receivers would have ranked 84th. Evans on field production didn't match his deeper analytics and target-earning ability, as he was also second-best in separation and route win rate last season. If he can stay healthy this season, he should be one of the best values on the board for fantasy season with WR1 upside.

The 49ers are signing WR Mike Evans.

Fantasy Impact

The 49ers bring in a big offensive weapon for Brock Purdy. Evans has been one of the best red zone targets in the NFL throughout his career. He should continue to hold plenty of touchdown upside in San Francisco. He'll remain on the WR2 radar for fantasy managers.