It may have taken 36 points to do so, but the San Francisco 49ers managed to escape with yet another home victory on Sunday. In the 36-30 triumph over the Arizona Cardinals, though, star WR Mike Evans had to leave early following an injury.
Evans was visibly winded following a snap in Week 3, causing him to be carted off the field to the locker room for further examination. What’s his status with a new week of practice set to begin?
Let’s dive into the latest Mike Evans injury update and weigh its potential impact on 49ers fantasy football picks and projections for PrizePicks.
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Mike Evans Injury Update: Will Evans Play in Week 4?
Despite the initial optics of Evans’ injury, it doesn’t seem to be something that will hold him out for more than a bit, if at all. Head coach Kyle Shanahan described it as a rib issue, which Ian Rapoport of NFL Media has since confirmed. It’s a day-to-day process now for the veteran wideout.
On Monday afternoon, Shanahan had a bit of an additional update on Evans. He believes the Niners’ prized offseason pickup might be able to return to practice later this week, thus perhaps giving him a chance to play on Sunday against the Denver Broncos.
At the time of his injury, Evans had played 18 snaps on offense, good for a third of San Francisco’s Sunday total. He had 6 targets, 3 receptions, and 34 yards with his second TD as a 49er on the docket.
Despite playing a career-low 56% of snaps for the 49ers, Evans has made a profound impact on the offense, especially with WRs Ricky Pearsall (knee) and De’Zhaun Stribling (ankle) both on the shelf. According to SumerSports, his 19.75% target share led the WR room and matched that of TE George Kittle.
Evans’ 139.8 passer rating when targeted is the highest of his NFL tenure to date, but his 10.9-yard average depth of target is the lowest. The 33-year-old is also mustering fewer than 1.5 yards after catch per reception for the second straight season.
49ers Fantasy Football Outlook: Options With Evans Banged Up
If Evans does miss Week 4, it’ll be interesting to see whether the 49ers shift philosophies. After all, they rank first in the NFL in pass rate over expected at +4.6% through three games, via nfelo. Could Shanahan scheme up enough of a passing attack down another player? That’d be a tall task, but three players stand out.
After Evans’ injury, courtesy of JJ Zachariason, Kittle logged the most routes with 12 of 13 possible ones. WR KhaDarel Hodge was second with 10, followed by WR Deebo Samuel at 9. The Kittle-Samuel duo, in addition to RB Christian McCaffrey, makes sense as a hypothetical replacement for production in the aggregate.
Kittle and Samuel have both gone 3-for-3 on targets and catches in the red zone, per 4for4, combining to receive 46.2% of the club’s targets inside the 20-yard line. Samuel’s 13.58% overall target share is second among San Francisco WRs, although his aDOT is just 3.27 yards — lowest for any NFL WR with at least 50 routes.
After a slow start in Week 1 in his first game back from an Achilles tear, the 32-year-old Kittle has exploded for a combined 10 catches, 162 yards, and 3 TDs in the last two games. He’s looking more and more like himself the further he advances in the season.
McCaffrey, meanwhile, is producing 0.8 more yards pas rush than last year while also boasting a 76.5% catch rate out of the backfield. His 23.9% slot alignment is a new personal best, via Pro Football Focus.
The 49ers roll into the weekend as 2.5-point favorites against the Broncos, per PrizePicks, returning a 1.63x payout if they win outright.
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Despite the scary nature of Mike Evans’ injury in Week 3, he might not even be forced to miss Week 4. That’s tremendous news for a 49ers team that’s squarely in the early-season hunt for prime seeding in the NFC, although both the availability and effectiveness of Evans are worth monitoring.
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