Mike Evans — Week 2: Three Catches, Three First Downs
2026 NFL Season · Half-PPR Scoring · Monday, Sep 21
Evans caught all 3 of his targets for 54 yards and three first downs: 10 on third and 5 on the opening touchdown drive, 17 in the third quarter, and 27 down the left side to the Miami 1 to set up Christian McCaffrey's second score. Three targets, after seven in Week 1, came on a day Brock Purdy threw 22 times, in a 35–13 win over the Dolphins.
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28 to six, 49ers, three 49 left in the third quarter, first and 10 at the Miami 28, one snap after a fumbled punt snap had handed San Francisco the ball. Brock Purdy threw deep left to Mike Evans, 19 yards in the air, and Evans was pushed out of bounds at the one. 27 yards, +2.2 expected points added — expected points added is what a play was worth given down, distance and field position. Christian McCaffrey scored on the next play.
The line: three targets, three catches, 54 yards, three first downs, +4.7 expected points on the targets. The first was third and five at the Miami 32 with seven 22 left in the first quarter, nothing to nothing: short left, 10 yards, pushed out at the 22. That one was worth 4.9 points of win probability, the chance of winning the game after the play against before it, the second-largest gain on any 49ers pass or run of the day, and the drive ended in McCaffrey's first touchdown. The second was 17 over the short middle on first and 10 from the San Francisco 49 with eight 34 left in the third, on the drive that ended in Kyle Juszczyk's touchdown. 40 air yards, 14 after the catch. One target before halftime, two after.
Where he sat: Purdy threw 22 times, four each to Deebo Samuel, McCaffrey and George Kittle, three each to Evans and Demarcus Robinson, two to Juszczyk, one to KhaDarel Hodge. Only eight of the throws came before halftime. All three of his catches came on drives that ended in touchdowns.
Back in June the preview called Evans a clean profile set against two things — his age, and a new system with a new quarterback — after an injury year ended a run of thousand-yard seasons. Week 1 was seven targets, five third-down catches, nothing longer than 13 yards, and the episode said to watch whether the third-down role held. Sunday there was one third-down target, converted, on a day San Francisco faced only seven third downs, and the long catch was 27. Two games, 10 targets, nine catches, a hundred three yards, one touchdown. The volume fell with the team's; the catch rate did not. It says nothing yet about the age question. San Francisco is home to the Cardinals on Sunday the 20-seventh.
_Data via nflverse._
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