Lee Evans hit the waiver wire in a couple of my leagues, and it got me wondering — would he be worth a pickup now that Ryan Fitzpatrick is the starter in Buffalo?
Looking back to 2009, Evans averaged 3.0 catches for 36 yards and 0.43 TD with Trent Edwards at QB and 2.6 catches for 40 yards and 0.44 TD with Fitzpatrick.
In other words, there wasn’t much of a difference who was playing QB for the Bills — Evans’ numbers were about the same.
That said, I wouldn’t be opposed to picking him up if I had an open roster slot just to see what happens over the next couple of weeks. Buffalo has a fairly easy schedule for the rest of the season and Evans is just 29 years old, so it’s not like he’s over the hill. However, he hasn’t been fantasy starter-caliber since the 2008 season (63-1017-3), so one wonders what kind of upside he really has at this point. It’s important to note that last season (by far the worst of his last four), he was playing second fiddle to Terrell Owens.
If he just went back to his 2007 and 2008 averages — 3.7 catches for 51 yards, along with his career 0.4 TD per game average — he’d post 11.2 fantasy points per game. Those are WR26-type numbers. That makes him a decent WR3 option, which means he should be owned in most leagues.
