Photos of WR Mike Evans against the Cowboys on November 15th.
After a sensational rookie campaign where he set the Buccaneers' single-season record for touchdown receptions, Mike Evans has continued to impress nine games into his sophomore season. Despite missing the Bucs' first regular season game with a hamstring injury and being limited in the team's second outing, he's on pace for a second 1,000-yard season.
Where Evans has been most dominant, though, has been catching the ball deep downfield. He averages 16.6 yards per reception, the third-most in the NFL for players who've caught at least 40 passes.
Jacksonville's Allen Hurns leads the league averaging 17 yards per catch on 41 receptions while his teammate with the Jaguars, Allen Robinson, is in second with 16.8 yards per catch on 45 receptions.
Evans has 12 catches of 20 yards or longer, tied for the ninth-most in the league. Only two players, Robinson and Pittsburgh's Antonio Brown, have more than 14.
Those stats don't tell the whole story, though. On many of Evans' deep routes, he's drawn pass interference penalties, which won't be reflected on his stat sheet but are just as significant for an offense as a catch.
Catching the deep ball has been Evans' forte for the past three seasons. Last year, he finished with 15.5 yards per catch, the 12th-most in the league for players with 40+ receptions. Evans averaged 20.2 yards per catch in his final season of college, which was the most in all of college football for players with 40 or more catches.
He's not the only Buccaneer to have success in this category, either. In 2012, Vincent Jackson led the NFL in yards per reception with 19.2.
