Mike Evans Fantasy Football Outlook (2020)

By Mike Tagliere (FantasyPros), Wed, Aug 26th 2020, 6:56am EDT

There are a lot of people who'll point out the fact that Evans finished as a WR1 in 2019 despite missing three games. Well, I hate to break it to you, but he was not a WR1 in terms that actually matter to you, the fantasy player. Despite averaging an elite 9.1 targets per game, Evans posted WR2 or better-type numbers in just 38.5 percent of his games. That ranked 28th among wide receivers. Seriously, guys like Sterling Shepard, Cole Beasley, and Jamison Crowder had higher percentages. Now you take away Jameis Winston, someone who was more than willing to throw the ball into tight coverage all the time, and swap him with one of the most risk averse quarterbacks in football? Evans' 2.4 yards of separation at target was one of the worst marks among wide receivers, and while it doesn't tell the full story, those who watch Evans knows he uses his body extremely well to box out defenders rather than gain multiple yards of separation with precision route running. Look, he's still a good player who's totaled at least 1,000 yards in each of his first six NFL seasons, so I'm not completely writing him off, though it does help that he's seen at least 8.7 targets per game over the last five years. I don't think Brady is as bad as some think at throwing the deep ball anymore, I just don't think he does it nearly as often as Winston did/was willing to. I'm expecting a slight dip in targets and less air yards, which in turn, equals less production for a player like Evans. It's not bad if you land him as your WR2, but I wouldn't recommend him as a WR1.