Mike Evans Week 1 Outlook - 49ers at Rams

By Derek Brown (FantasyPros), Sun, Sep 13th 2026, 12:44pm EDT

Mike Evans is practicing, so I'm projecting him to be active in Week 1. 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. 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. Last year, the Rams did allow the 14th-most fantasy points per target to perimeter wide receivers, but they also added Trent McDuffie (2025: 66.7% catch rate and 93.0 passer rating) and Jaylen Watson (2025: 63.8% catch rate and 89.1 passer rating) this offseason to address this issue. If you have Evans on your team, you're likely starting him this week. Evans still has the talent to succeed in a tough matchup.