My NFL Futures Lock Of The Year Is Here

Naomi Baker. Getty Images.

For part of what Ben Mintz & I are doing with Fantasy Football Factory is we'll be pumping a lot of prop bets on the Barstool Sportsbook during primetime standalone games. So Thursday Night, Sunday Night, and Monday Night we'll always have a fun prop for you. I have a history with these dating back to last season when I hit a few of my Steven Cheah's Prop Parlays including this +470 in the Super Bowl.

For FFF, Mintzy & I have been going through positional previews. So far we've done Runningbacks and this week we hit Wide Receivers. During each show we've picked out some of our favorite NFL Season-Long Props to bet on. 

When scrolling through the NFL Futures tab, I noticed that Mike Evans had an O/U of 1,000.5 yards for the season and I almost fell out of my chair. I have an intimate knowledge of the Buccaneers. I watch the All-22, I follow every beat writer, I watch every single press conference, and I've been blessed to meet and form relationships with some of the front office and players. I feel like I have a really good pulse of the team. So when I saw this line, my reaction was appropriate. Here's why:

Evans recently broke the record for consecutive seasons to start his career with seasons over 1,000 yards.

That was a record that was important to him. He loved Randy Moss growing up and even trained with him in 2015. 

"After the Washington Redskins game last year I did an interview with FOX Sports, who he (Moss) worked for," Evans said. "I told him that I watched a documentary on him before we played Washington and I did his touchdown celebration. He hit me up on Twitter, he followed me and I followed him back. A couple months later he hit me up again and I couldn't say no, so I went up there and worked out with him for a week." via Buccaneers.com

But during an up and down 2020, it didn't always look like Evans would break the record. 

Tom Brady was still getting comfortable in the offense, Antonio Brown was getting back in football shape, Gronk was fully ramped back up, and there were a lot of mouths to feed with Chris Godwin, Cam Brate and others. But the record was important to Evans and the team knew that. The final three games, Evans went 6 catches for 110 yards, 10 catches for 181 yards with 2 TDs, and 3 catches for 46 yards (would have been more but got hurt the play after he caught the ball to get him over the 1,000 yard threshold). The point is, the Bucs force fed him the ball to get that record.

In the off-season at one of the press conferences I watched, Evans talked about his goals for the year. He mentioned extending the record and getting 1,000 yards again. So clearly the number is on Evans mind. The fact that it's at 1,000.5 in the Barstool Sportsbook screams opportunity to me. Since the Barstool Sportsbook is now LIVE in New Jersey, I jumped all over it before the sharps wised up and bet the OVER. My question to you is, are you going to ride with me? 

Catch more fun stuff like this on the Fantasy Football Factory. We preview this year's crop of fantasy Wide Receivers in this week's episode: