Buccaneers duo listed as 'underrated' in fantasy football for the 2025 season

USA Today

2 days ago

Fantasy football is the ultimate game of chess for football fans. There are numerous strategies that a team owner can implement, especially on draft day. For example, some will draft going for value on bye week coverage; this is a sound strategy, but the best—and usually most expensive—move to make is the quarterback-wide receiver combination.
Stacking a quarterback who throws a lot of touchdowns, with a wide receiver who catches a good chunk of them, is a deadly combination. That combination is precisely what the Buccaneers possess, as the dynamic duo of Baker Mayfield and Mike Evans no longer fly under the radar, as Bleacher Report gives them the "underrated stack" title.
At some point every season, you'll hear, "death, taxes, and Mike Evans eclipsing 1000 receiving yards are the only things certain in this life," and that's for good reason, because he's going to get there every year. What makes Evans even more dangerous is his goalline fade route that has seemingly been unstoppable for his entire career, as the 11-year vet sits ninth all-time with 105 receiving touchdowns. You might not get the 40+ point breakouts from Evans that you would get from a Ja'Marr Chase, but you will get consistency every week.
Mayfield is well-known as a gunslinger, and after leading the NFC in touchdowns with 41 last season (plus an additional three on the ground), you'd think that he would be talked about more leading into many fantasy drafts. However, he's still never a sexy name when fantasy football comes around. But, are you drafting based on name or production? In their two seasons playing together, Evans has logged 153 receptions for 2259 yards and 24 touchdowns, all from Mayfield, and missed three games along the way. The Buccaneers quarterback also finished last season with the third-best completion percentage (71.4%) and the fourth-highest QB Rating (106.8).
Not to mention the Buccaneers have an incredible array of weapons for Mayfield to pass the ball to, so not only do you get the stack of Mayfield and Evans, you reap the benefits of the loaded pass-catching corps.
Per FantasyPros, ADP projections in PPR leagues for Evans are 42nd overall (WR20) and Mayfield 61st overall (QB7), meaning that you could be the owner of one of the higher reward stacks, with a reasonably mitigated risk that wouldn't sacrifice the quality of your team by having to stretch and draft either player much earlier than you want.