Mike Evans injury update heading into Week 1

Sep 8 update: Evans has not appeared on the first two injury reports of the week and is on track to play on Sunday vs. the Cowboys.

Mike Evans returned to practice last week, which should put him on track to suit up for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ Week 1 primetime game against the Dallas Cowboys. Evans has been dealing with a hamstring injury that he suffered during the first week of August. It was considered a relatively minor injury.

Fantasy football implications

Evans isn’t the only wideout for the Buccaneers who has been dealing with an injury. Russell Gage is still not practicing because of a hamstring injury, and Chris Godwin’s status for Week 1 is still up in the air as he makes his way back after tearing his ACL late last season.

If Godwin can’t go, it opens up even more looks for Evans, who was already a solid option on fantasy football rosters. While Evans hasn’t seen the same yardage output as he did earlier in his career, he scored 14 touchdowns last season and 13 the year before that. And even though he’s not putting up another 1,500-yard season, he at least topped the 1,000-yard mark in each of his last two.

The Bucs also brought in veteran Julio Jones during the offseason, and he’s reportedly formed a good connection with quarterback Tom Brady. If Evans does miss time this year, Jones could see more looks in the passing game, potentially picking up some of Evans’ work near the end zone.