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Missile Launch

Lee Evans is the most under-rated WR in the game today.  He is both a model of efficiency and one of the most explosive WRs in the league.   He has excellent hands (dropping only two balls in '08), and has a career 16 YPC average which is tied with Greg Jennings to lead all receivers in the top 20 fantasy point ranking.  And In a game vs. the Texans on November 19^th, 2006 he went for 205 receiver yards ...in one quarter!  It is the most yards by a WR in one quarter since Qadry Ismail with 210 yards back in 1999.  He is faster than his 4.42 40 yard dash score would suggest, and is one of the quickest receivers off the line in the league.    If he weren't stuck in Buffalo catching balls from Trent Edwards and playing in a conservative run-first offense the last two seasons, he would be a top fantasy wide-out.   Here's proof:

Trent Edwards has significantly stifled Evans's career over the last two seasons.   In Lee Evans 56 games without Edwards at QB he has caught 27 TDs or almost one for every two games played.  In 24 games with Trent under center, Evans has caught 5 TD or about one for every five games played.  Trent is young, though, and things are about to change for the better in Buffalo... even if only for one year.

Benign or Malignant?

Malignant... every time.   TO arrives on the scene in the sleepy city of Buffalo.  Any double teams that Evans had seen in the past are officially no longer.   TO will be the one seeing double teams and Evans will take advantage... assuming Edwards can get him the ball.  This does not bode well for the Buffalo locker-room, though.  Can you imagine what will be coming out of Me-O's mouth if it's week five and he has yet to catch a TD?  The one year contract he signed won't do much to keep him behaving because TO is has no regard for anyone but himself.  Either way, the pressure is now off Lee Evans and Trent Edwards now has solid options on both sides of the field.

2009 Fantasy Outlook

Lee is due for a significant uptick in receptions, yards, and TDs.  Buffalo would not have gone out and risked franchise life and limb if they weren't planning to pass the ball more.  If Jauron posts another sub-.500 season, he's gone, and it's no secret.  We were expecting him to be gone before this season, but he had a sit-down with team management shortly after the '08 season ended and sold himself for one more year.  The TO signing makes more sense, now.

Evans will be left in single coverage for an entire season and is too talented to pass on this opportunity.  Again, his fate is tied to the development of Trent Edwards.  Given his poor fantasy numbers over the last two seasons, he will come at a bargain in '09.  You should draft Evans as the 35th WR and could be in for higher returns.