Wide Receiver · San Francisco 49ers
Mike Evans — 2026 Fantasy Outlook
Analysis by Shawn Childs, from his 2026 guide — his words, unedited.
The case
- · Evans also falls in the Davante Adams bucket for fantasy drafters. He’ll turn 33 in August. Does he have one more good season left in him?
- · The 49ers should have a better foundation of offensive players, and I like Brock Purdy much more than Baker Mayfield.
- · Evans saw his streak of over 1,000 yards receiving end last year, leading to his worst stats (30/368/3 on 62 targets) of his 12-year career.
- · He missed 14 games in 2025 due to a hamstring injury and a broken collarbone.
- · Evans has 108 career touchdowns, ranking him 10th in receiving touchdowns all-time. He currently sits 21st in receiving yards (13,052).
- · Over his first 168 games, Evans averaged 5.1 catches for 76 yards and 0.63 touchdowns (16.45 PPR fantasy points per game).
Question marks
- · San Francisco’s 2026 season could derail or change quickly if any of the key offensive players have injuries.
- · Over the past two years, Brock Purdy missed 10 games. Christian McCaffrey has been on the sidelines for 13 matchups. George Kittle sat out eight contests.
Shawn's conclusion
Based on Evans' 2026 price point, he only needs about 60 catches for 700 yards and eight touchdowns to be in range of a backend WR2 in PPR formats. His opportunity and previous resume suggest that Evans beats my floor threshold. He ranked 15th in PPR points (240.40) in 2024. For the senior shoppers with short memories, a name is a name, and Evans plays in a favorable offense for his skill set.
More on Evans
With Tom Brady under center, Tampa funneled 350 targets Evans's way over three seasons. He set new personal bests in touchdown catches in back-to-back years (13 in 2020 and 14 in 2021), before falling back to six scores in 2022. Interestingly, his target rate was actually higher across 62 games from 2015 to 2018 (9.6 per week) than it was over his first 47 starts with the Buccaneers (7.4 per week). His 2022 season was a study in feast or famine: two explosive outings (8/103/2 and 10/207/3) bookended an 11-week scoring drought, with only two other games worth mentioning (5/71/1 in Week 1 and 6/123 in Week 8).
The arrival of Baker Mayfield brought a steadier version of Evans in 2023. He held a fantasy floor of at least 10.00 points in 13 of 17 regular-season games, with his hottest stretch running from Week 10 through Week 13 (6/143/1, 5/43/1, 6/70/2, and 7/162/1). Evans closed the year with his second-highest receiving yard total (1,255) and rediscovered his scoring touch with 13 touchdowns. His 136 targets were his most since 2018, and Mayfield trusted him down the field — Evans averaged 15.9 yards per catch in response. Three more standout games added to the resume (Week 2 – 6/171/1, Week 16 – 7/86/2, and Week 20 – 8/147/1), and he finished seventh among wide receivers in PPR scoring (282.50).
2024 opened with Evans producing in spurts (26 catches on 45 targets for 335 yards and six touchdowns over the first seven games), with three bright spots (5/61/2, 8/94/1, and 5/62/2) mixed in. A hamstring injury then pulled him off the field for three games at the midpoint of the year. Mayfield carried him to the 1,000-yard mark over the final seven weeks (48/669/5 on 65 targets), with Evans delivering four games of eight-plus catches (8/118/1, 9/159/2, 8/97/2, and 9/89) and a strong playoff showing (7/92/1). He wrapped up the season 14th in PPR wide receiver scoring at 240.40 points.
Last year, Evans suited up for only eight games (30/368/3 on 62 targets) due to a hamstring injury and a broken collarbone. As a result, his 11-year streak with over 1,000 yards receiving came to an end. He played the best from Week 16 to Week 18 (6/132, 5/31/1, and 3/31/1) while averaging 9.3 targets over this span.
Evans moved to 21st all-time in receiving yards (13,052) and 10th in receiving touchdowns (108).
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