Alright, you gotta see what Mike Evans is doing out there right now, because the dude is absolutely tearing it up at 33 years old, defying everything we thought we knew about aging receivers. Forget what the spreadsheets tell you about the aggregate, this veteran is crushing it, and he’s doing it with some wild stats that put him in truly elite company.
Evans Is Still A Cheat Code, Even On A Low Snap Count
Seriously, Evans’ run this year is bonkers. The guy is 33, he’s constantly on the injury report, and you see him waving to the sidelines every Sunday asking for a breather. He’s only played a modest 59.2% of offensive snaps this year, which is super low for a WR1; most of the top-tier pass-catchers are living in the high 80s for that stat. Yet, he’s still delivering a WR1 season. How? He does some truly cool stuff to dominate even with that modest snap share. For one, when he’s on the field, he *commands* targets. Evans draws a pass on a mind-blowing 34% of his routes! That’s the fourth-highest rate among qualified pass-catchers in the entire league, and you know who’s in that group? Puka Nacua, Zay Flowers, and our own Jaxon Smith-Njigba. That’s some serious company, Emerald City! Plus, he’s still an absolute monster at drawing end-zone targets, with four already, and converting them into touchdowns, with three. That’s a skill he’s always had, and it’s not going anywhere, especially tied to an elite play-caller like Kyle Shanahan and a legitimate MVP candidate in Brock Purdy. After a summer of stop-and-start news, if you snagged Evans around the sixth round of your fantasy draft, you pulled off highway robbery. He’s hyper-targeted when he’s out there, and with injuries piling up around him in San Francisco, that trend isn’t slowing down.
Meanwhile, What’s Going On With Tucker Kraft?
Now, let’s flip the script and talk about another pass-catcher, though with a different vibe: Tucker Kraft in Green Bay. The Packers have a decent passing game but a mediocre running game, and a poor offensive line they try to mask through the air. Jordan Love has been beating his ADP, and Christian Watson and Matthew Golden are winning picks. But Kraft? It’s been a slow onboarding. He tore his ACL mid-breakout season last year, and even then, his participation rate was modest. Last year, before the injury, he ran a route on only 69.3% of Green Bay’s passing plays, and this year it’s even lower, at 64.8%. The Packers clearly need him for blocking and chipping, and that’s capping his upside. Most targeted tight ends are running routes in the 80s, and the elite guys are the No. 1 or No. 2 option in their offense. With Golden stepping up, Kraft is looking like the third wheel in that Green Bay passing game. He’s ninth among tight ends in snap rate, sure, but he drops to 17th in route participation, which just tells you how much they need him to block. And to top it off, those splash plays we saw last year? They’ve dried up completely.
The league is always full of surprises, and these two pass-catchers show just how different paths can be carved out. We’ll be watching to see if Evans can keep defying expectations and if Kraft can somehow break through his blocking duties to get more involved in the pass game.
This article was created with AI assistance and published under Seattle On Tap’s editorial standards. See our Editorial Policy.
Originally reported by Yahoo Sports.
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