With free agency open, the floodgates broke for several players, including three veteran receivers staying home with their respective teams. Sometimes a veteran receiver might go overlooked as the hype rises for the rookies and sophomores. Unlike running backs, we sometimes have more consistency at the receiver position, especially when a young player establishes themselves and earns targets. Let’s look at the early fantasy impact of three veteran receivers staying home with their respective teams.

Mike Evans Re-Signs with Tampa Bay

Mike Evans and the Buccaneers agreed to a two-year deal worth $52 million, with $35 million guaranteed. Evans gave us consistent seasons, but some questioned his upside with Baker Mayfield at quarterback in 2023. He proved the doubters wrong, with the second-highest total PPR (284.5) of his career. 

However, maybe we shouldn’t be surprised that Evans and Mayfield connected. Mayfield has always been a good deep thrower throughout his NFL career, and is competent in most short and intermediate areas too. That’s evident by the high adjusted yards per attempt (AY/A) to Donovan Peoples-Jones, Rashard Higgins, and David Njoku among receivers with 50 targets. Evans quickly became the third-most efficient and arguably the best pass catcher Mayfield played with. 

The visual above shows Mayfield’s efficiency by location on the field. Mayfield thrived at targeting receivers downfield on the left side, with an efficient 10.7 AY/A. Given the connection, the Buccaneers made the logical moves to re-sign Evans and Mayfield, who recently agreed to a three-year deal worth $100 million. 

Evans hasn’t shown any sign of decline, with a 24% target share (No. 19), 13.2 EP/G (No. 21), and 3.5 FPOE/G (No. 8). Though we can’t expect WR1 outcomes again for Evans, valuing him as a WR2 as the expected points indicate feels like a reasonable floor. Age might eventually catch up to him, but there’s at least one more solid year in Evans in 2024.