It’s that time of year once again! Football Absurdity will bring you a breakdown of every notable fantasy football-relevant player throughout June, July, and August. We continue with the wide receivers. With Tom Brady coming back, Gronk staying on the sidelines (for now) and Chris Godwin likely out for multiple weeks with an ACL tear, Mike Evans has WR1 upside. Let’s take a look at what he can be with his 2022 fantasy football player profile!
Mike Evans ADP and AAV:
Average Draft Position: WR9, 23 overall
Average Auction Value: $31.5
Mike Evans Statistics:
| Year | G | GS | Tgt | Rec | Yards | TD | Tgt/G | Rec/G | Rec% | Yds/Tgt | Yds/Rec |
| 2021 | 16 | 16 | 114 | 74 | 1035 | 14 | 7.13 | 4.63 | 64.9% | 9.08 | 13.99 |
| 2020 | 16 | 16 | 109 | 70 | 1006 | 13 | 6.81 | 4.38 | 64.2% | 9.23 | 14.37 |
| 2019 | 13 | 13 | 118 | 67 | 1157 | 8 | 7.38 | 4.19 | 56.8% | 9.81 | 17.27 |
| Year | Std Pts | HPPR Pts | PPR Pts | Pts/G | HPPR Pts/G | PPR Pts/G | Pts/Tgt | HPPR Pts/Tgt | PPR Pts/Tgt |
| 2021 | 188.5 | 225.5 | 262.5 | 11.8 | 14.1 | 16.4 | 1.65 | 1.98 | 2.30 |
| 2020 | 178.6 | 213.6 | 248.6 | 11.2 | 13.4 | 15.5 | 1.64 | 1.96 | 2.28 |
| 2019 | 165.7 | 199.2 | 232.7 | 12.7 | 15.3 | 17.9 | 1.40 | 1.69 | 1.97 |
| Year | Air Yards | aDOT | YAC | YAC/Tgt | YAC/Rec | AYMS | Tgt MS |
| 2021 | 1484 | 13 | 259 | 2.29 | 3.50 | 27% | 17% |
| 2020 | 1241 | 11.39 | 258 | 2.37 | 3.74 | 22% | 18% |
| 2019 | 1809 | 15.3 | 256 | 2.17 | 3.82 | 35% | 23% |
2022 Mike Evans Fantasy Football Overview:
As of writing this, Tom Brady has one healthy, returning weapon in his receiving corps who received significant snaps during Brady’s time in Tampa Bay, and it’s Mike Evans. Evans was on the field for nearly all of Tom Brady’s league-leading targets and yards last season, running the third-most routes in the NFL. He ranked fifteenth in target distance, and eleventh in red zone targets. All of this combined to make him the WR10 last season, and things can only get better for Evans this season. Evans had 14 touchdowns last year, but suffered from inconsistent usage, with four games under 30 receiving yards. This year, at least to start the season, Tom Brady doesn’t have the luxury of looking elsewhere for targets other than Evans.
Evans started last year with 37 targets in his first four games, and that’s a great place to start for his production this season. He should hit the ground running and be the primary target for Tom Brady who, again, intends to lead the league in pass attempts. Leonard Fournette will get his, and newcomer Russell Gage will get some too, but thanks to a Chris Godwin injury, the main show in town will be Mike Evans. Tom Brady trusts him, and trust goes a long way for a Tom Brady wide receiver, especially one as talented as Evans.
So, I can’t think of a wide receiver with a better set up to start the season than Mike Evans, and one who has more opportunities to grow as a receiver after already proving himself. Evans is also chasing history: he’s the only receiver to start a career with eight 1,000+ yard receiving seasons, and he’s set to make it nine straight. He’s also sitting on four seasons of 1,000+ receiving yards and 10+ touchdowns. Every wide receiver with at least five such seasons (Jerry Rice, Marvin Harrison, Terrell Owens, Randy Moss, Cris Carter, and Lance Alworth) has busts in Canton. So, given that this is likely Tom Brady’s last year, Mike Evans is literally playing for history this season.
2022 Mike Evans Fantasy Football Draft Strategy:
Mike Evans Salary Cap Value: $35
Draft Ranking: Find out for your league settings in a Beersheet!
Get Mike Evans on your fantasy football roster. I won’t say it again. He’s my WR4 by rankings, and he’s the eighth-most expensive wide receiver in salary cap drafts ($31.3) and the WR9 by ADP (pick 27). So, you can get him for 15% of your budget, or an early third-round pick in fantasy football drafts. I have no problems taking him in the mid-second if that’s what it takes to make sure he ends up on your roster. After the top-three (Kupp/Chase/Jefferson), there is no wide receiver I would rather have. He’s set to be the main weapon for Tom Brady, who unretired for one last revenge tour, and a revenge tour that Brady will undertake with one healthy, trusted returning member of his wide receiver corps: Mike Evans.
Best Case Scenario:
Mike Evans averages 9 targets per game, which he turns into a career year of 1,500 yards and 15 touchdowns.
Worst Case Scenario:
Tom Brady retires again, and the power duo of Blaine Gabbert and Kyle Trask can’t make it all work and Mike Evans falls off the face of the earth.
Check out all our 2022 player profiles, here.
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[Statistics are sourced from pro-football-reference.com, airyards.com, and ftnfantasy.com]
[Image Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f6/Mike_Evans_vs_Redskins_November_16_2014.jpg, cropped under CC BY SA 4.0]
