Fantasy Football: Is Mike Evans the best WR value of 2023?

For those in the fantasy football community who sometimes jump off bandwagons too quickly, we submit the case of the seemingly ageless Mike Evans.

Yes, just before the season he did reach that dreaded 30th birthday that had so many people predicting him going over the age cliff. Hamstring injuries had started to accumulate in his medical history, never a good sign as a player approaches that milestone birthday. If that weren’t enough, Evans and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers were facing a quarterback change from the GOAT, Tom Brady, to Baker Mayfield, playing for his fourth organization in less than two calendar years.

But like Raheem Mostert has proven from the running back side, NFL life does not have to come to an end at 30. In fact, Evans just keeps rolling along like Ol' Man River. Powerful and relentless. And for those fantasy managers who believed, they’re being rewarded for their faith right around the holidays.

Evans put up another signature performance for the Buccaneers in a dominant 30-12 victory over the Jaguars, catching seven of eight targets for 86 yards and a pair of touchdowns. Going into Sunday evening, Evans was the WR5 with 24.10 fantasy points, and if he holds on this would be his sixth top-10 weekly finish of the season. That’s a player who last summer was drafted as the WR32 at an ADP of 84.9 at the 12/13-round turn. Receivers who are currently either injured or have disappointed, like Christian Watson, Diontae Johnson and Mike Williams, went before Evans. Going after him were players like Jerry Jeudy, George Pickens, Christian Kirk and Jahan Dotson. Imagine the hidden gem that Evans became in that group. Full disclosure, Michael Pittman Jr. — another late-round find — was the WR31.

Is Evans the greatest fantasy draft-day find at the wide receiver position this season? Yes!

The rewards have been plentiful for those who delved into the aging waters. Evans has amassed 74 catches for 1,163 receiving yards through 15 games, a few weeks ago attaining his 10th straight season with 1,000 receiving yards. That ties him with Randy Moss and they only trail the legendary Jerry Rice. Evans, however, is the only one to do it 10 straight seasons to start his career. With 13 touchdowns, Evans is leading the NFL in touchdown receptions, one ahead of Tyreek Hill. If Evans holds on to that mantle, he’ll be the first wide receiver age 30-plus to lead the NFL in TD catches since Antonio Brown in 2018.

Not bad for a player who had been largely written off coming into this season. Evans is another example of offseason narratives sometimes jumping too quickly on players. Mostert is still an outlier, though he was coming off a relatively healthy season. Matthew Stafford may win people league titles after some were getting him ready for retirement last summer even though all reports were that he was healthy and still playing for Sean McVay. Keenan Allen was another receiver having a resurgent year before injuries struck him.

Yes, that’s the risk of drafting older players, though Evans has played every game this season, and done so well.

He came into Week 16 with stellar numbers all around beyond those mentioned already. He has an outstanding yards per route run of 2.60, which is ninth among wide receivers running at least 300 routes. Evans is second in the NFL with seven end-zone touchdowns and 17 targets in the painted area. His 1,664 air yards are fourth in the NFL.

Evans has played so well, he’s raised the level of play from his quarterback. Mayfield looked like a placeholder quarterback coming into the season, with many media types predicting the Bucs would be in the running for a quarterback in next year’s NFL Draft.

Instead, Mayfield is having a career renaissance of his own, putting up another good game Sunday with 283 yards and the pair of scores to Evans. The quarterback has thrown for 3,598 yards, which is 229 yards behind his career high of 3,827 set in 2019. Mayfield is having a great finishing kick alongside Evans, his 19.82 fantasy points on Sunday his lowest output in the last three games. They’re having a good time, as evidenced by the touchdown celebration after one of Evans' scores.

Evans is a big reason that Mayfield is fourth in the NFL in deep throws at 59, according to Fantasy Points Data. Evans is playing as well as he has in his career. While the career-high 1,524 yards he posted in 2018 appear to be out of reach, the veteran is just one touchdown behind his top mark of 14 scoring catches set two years ago.

With many fantasy championships hanging in the balance next week, Evans is a good bet to not only have gotten teams to the title game, but he could be a big part of bringing home the trophy. Next week, the Saints come to Tampa Bay for a huge NFC South matchup. Evans’ nemesis, Marshon Lattimore, is on IR, so fans may miss one of the great wide receiver-cornerback matchups of the past several seasons.

But for those rostering Evans and playing for a title, that could be a good thing. He caught three balls for 40 yards in a 26-9 Buccaneers victory over the Saints in Week 4. That’s one of only four games when Evans did not score this season. And the way both teams have been playing of late, it may be hard to keep the 6-foot-5 wideout out of the end zone.

Evans has scored in six of his last seven games, going over 100 yards twice in that span. The Saints just got blitzed by Stafford and Puka Nacua (9-164-1) in a 30-22 Rams victory. With the NFC South title within reach for the 8-7 Buccaneers, this matchup is set up perfectly for Evans.

There’s still room on the Mike Evans bandwagon. At least for one more week.