The Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ offense has been a thriving source of fantasy football points all season. However, the cast of characters entering the playoffs looks slightly different than it did for most of the year. With a wide receiver group of Mike Evans, Cyril Grayson Jr., Tyler Johnson, and Breshad Perriman, what should we expect from the Tampa Bay passing attack in fantasy/DFS during the postseason?
Mike Evans is remarkably consistent
Evans has now been in the NFL for eight seasons. He’s topped 1,000 receiving yards in every single one of them. Over the last two years with Tom Brady, Evans has had the two seasons with the most receiving touchdowns of his career. Last year, it was 13 — this year, it was 14, a new personal best.
Evans has had 109 and 114 targets, 70 and 74 receptions, and 1,006 and 1,035 yards over the last two years. He had 55 first downs last year and 56 this year. You really can’t get any more consistent than Evans. Now, with Chris Godwin out with an ACL tear and Antonio Brown … uh … leaving, Evans is the unquestioned top option in the Bucs’ passing attack for the playoffs.
Can Tyler Johnson or Breshad Perriman be trusted?
Perriman appears to be fourth in line for targets at this point. In Week 17, he logged only 15% of the offensive snaps. Prior to Week 18, which I’m basically tossing out because it was a weird week, Perriman hadn’t seen more than 4 targets in any game this year. This year, he has played 31% of offensive snaps or fewer in four of his six games with the Buccaneers.
It looks like Grayson and Johnson have passed him. Grayson has come on strong as of late, getting more work after Godwin’s injury. Grayson had 81 receiving yards in Week 16, and in Week 17 (when Brown left the team midgame), he caught 6 of 8 targets for 81 yards (again) and a touchdown. He’s playing a good amount of snaps and appears to have earned Brady’s trust.
Johnson, who has fooled me too many times in his young professional career, might be rounding a corner. He saw 13 targets in the last two weeks and is playing a healthy amount of snaps.
Nevertheless, he doesn’t have any touchdowns to his name this season and only topped 60 receiving yards twice. While Johnson might be developing more of a role, it seems too early to trust.
Expectations for Evans and the other receivers
In playoff fantasy leagues, it’s typically a smart idea to align yourself with skill players attached to Tom Brady. He tends to end up deep in the playoffs on a yearly basis. As a result, Evans should be treated as a WR1 in playoff leagues. He is priced at $6,900 on DraftKings, the sixth-highest of any wide receiver in the Wild Card round. Yet, he’s going against an Eagles secondary that has only allowed 2 receiving touchdowns to opposing WRs in the last four weeks. I’m not sure he’s worth the play.
Grayson, on the other hand, is way down the list at $4,400. Being opposite of Evans, that’s a price that I can get behind for the upside.