All Twenty-Tuesday: Bucs WR Mike Evans

Sometimes we as football fans have tendencies to watch the game through a singular lens, regardless of the changes in the subjects we watch. You wouldn’t use the same type of eyepiece on a telescope to view different types of interstellar objects, would you? Of course not; you’d want to use an eyepiece that is specialized for a subject’s distance and makeup to truly appreciate it. In that same way, some people watch wide receivers like Antonio Brown or Odell Beckham Jr. and think “why can’t Mike Evans do that?” It’s not that easy. Each receiver has their own skillset that differentiates them, but when you’re elite at what you do, that doesn’t have to be a negative like it appears to be when we watch all receivers through the same lens.

Understanding what kind of lens you you chose to observe Evans through starts with understanding his route tree. Evans does run most of the standard 9-piece route tree, but there are, of course, some routes he runs more than others. The majority of Evans’ routes are 9-routes (fade variation), post, corner, comeback, out and slant. As stated before, that’s a good amount of diversity, but that’s what you want from your No. 1 wide receiver.

As seen in the clip above, one of Evans’ most comfortable routes is that post route concept going towards the middle of the field. It’s also a route that has a good amount of potential for yards after that catch.

There are a lot of factors that go into getting yards after the catch, and that’s something I want to try to explain.

In 2015, Evans had the most yards after the catch of his career to date with 226 yards. In that season, he had three big plays that contributed to that number being so far above his average. The first is shown above, coming from the Giants game. In it, we saw a post concept that was paired with a corner concept to get the defenders to cross. The cornerbacks didn’t fully cross, as it was Cover 6 Cloud coverage, but the cross of routes fooled the safety into guessing at the wrong spot which left Evans with nothing but green pastures in front of him. That’s what can happen when the design works perfectly. It wasn’t really anything Evans did or didn’t do. He was just the beneficiary of it.

Above is the second big play after the catch from Evans in 2015 and it came from that same route concept.

A big factor in that play going for extra yards was the placement of the ball. Quarterback Jameis Winston plays just as much of a role in Evans getting yards after the catch as Evans does himself. With timing being such a delicate factor towards success in the NFL, placing the ball in a spot where it allows a receiver to stay in stride is vital. Winston put that ball well in front of Evans, and even if Evans’ separation wasn’t that good out of his break, that ball made him carry his momentum forward which allowed him to stay at top speed and avoid the tackle from the safety.

The final example I wanted to show from 2015 is one that demonstrates how sometimes it’s not even about Evans, but rather, the route chosen for him to run.

The route shown above is a drag route, one that acts sort of like a slant but goes more parallel to the line of scrimmage out of the break. That play design again worked well to get Evans his space, and a key factor in that route was Winston seeing it early. Evans once again had easy yards after the catch in that play, but that was just a result of a good play working well with him as the focal point. Nothing special by him, just happened to be the guy whose number was called.

These are the kinds of routes that Brown and Beckham Jr. get much more than Evans does. The reason for that is those guys can win more with their feet, and where Evans is fast for his size, he doesn’t win as similarly – as Brown and Beckham Jr. don’t to some of Evans’ biggest strengths – which is why we can’t view him through the same lens.

The reason I wanted to point out the things above before we got into a bit of criticisms is because there are a lot of factors that come into play beyond Evans himself that get yards after the catch. Play design, routes run and chemistry with the quarterback are all heavily weighted variables that can affect even the most athletic players.

But, there are also times when a lack of YAC can be placed on Evans himself, whether the surrounding factors are perfect or slightly not. Watch the clip directly above, and then another angle of it below.

In this particular play (Bears game in Week 2 of 2017), Evans tips a bit of his mentality. Now, I get it, going over the middle sucks, and Evans has been rocked on more than one occasion by a safety or linebacker over the last four years with post and slant routes being two of his go-to concepts. But, you can sort of notice with that little hop at the catch and bend in the knees going down that he really didn’t have much desire to keep that play going past the catch.

Sometimes, as we’ll see in other clips during this breakdown, there’s a safety looming and Evans knows that YAC isn’t in the cards on that particular play, so I don’t want to get overly critical of him there because that is definitely a factor. But, in the play above, that wasn’t exactly the case. That safety was back-pedalling hard in a single-high concept and was about seven yards off Evans at the catch point.

Sometimes, though, Evans is clearly content with just taking the yards through the air. This is a mentality thing. Every pass isn’t going to be perfect, but some receivers have a mentality for yards after the catch and for others it’s not as instinctive. For Evans, at least over the last two years, it hasn’t been too instinctive. There are multiple examples, the one above being one of them, that show Evans being much more concerned with corralling the the ball and covering up rather than take a chance on a bigger play after the fact. This, in theory, leads to fewer drops and more completions, but, as expected, less yards after the catch and less potential for a dynamic play.

You can even see it a bit on plays that don’t really have a design for yards after the catch but could.

In the play above, it was Evans’ job to find the soft spot in the zone. He did that well and got the ball. Mission accomplished. But, even though it was his job to get the first down and he did that perfectly, you can still see his immediate motion is to put his head down, cover up and get down. That’s not bad, per se, it’s just what he does sometimes.

The play above is from the preseason, so take it however you want to, but it’s the kind of thing I saw too much of from Evans in 2017.

Sure, the pass by Winston was a bit low and out in front, and we have already gone over the fact that timing means something for yards after the catch. But, Evans is still an elite wide receiver with a very large catch radius. He didn’t have to take his whole body to the ground for that ball, but he did, and he often does.

Evans is not going to win in the same ways that say Brown or Beckham or Golden Tate do, but that’s not to say Evans doesn’t do plenty of winning in his own way. Yards after the catch often require top-notch separation via breaks in routes, and that has never nor will it ever be Evans’ type of game, which is fine – he’s huge, so that’s not an expected thing. Where he does win, is catching the ball in traffic, being great with contact, having great feet on the sideline and with his big catch radius.

Bucs WR Mike Evans – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

So, are we to expect more yards after the catch from Evans in 2018? Maybe, but that’s not only on him but also factors beyond his control. Could Evans have more a mentality for getting yards after the catch. I think so. I think he would say so, too. Not that I don’t think he’s trying, but there are times when he seeks out the sideline or goes to the ground easier than he could – whether you want to substitute the word “could” with “should” can be your own judgement.

Evans is still one of the best receivers in the game, even without big yards after the catch totals. He doesn’t need them to be effective and a true No. 1 receiver. It’s cool to hear him say he wants to get better at it, but I’m not sure how much better he can get knowing the type of receiver he is and not knowing how much better Winston can become at ball placement. Evans isn’t likely to get better at breaking on his routes to create more separation for potential yards after the catch because he’s so big, but there is a little wiggle room for him to get better at it. It’s just about mentality – or at least the part he can control. If he wants to do it, he’ll have to sacrifice a little bit of being safe.

Perhaps Evans just is who he is. Maybe he won’t ever be in the Top 25 of yards after the catch, but, you know what? Even if that’s the case he’s still one of the best in the game and is already the best to ever do it in a Tampa Bay uniform. Everything he adds to his game at this point is an added bonus of a worth-while investment as a top draft choice.