Cameron Brate has seen his snap share progressively rise, going from 49.06% in Week 3 to 68.06% in Week 5. As Brate's snap rate has slowly increased, though, Mike Evans is quietly experiencing a steady decline in target share for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Jameis Winston targeted Evans on 12 of 40 attempts (a 30% target share) in Week 3, 11 of 38 attempts (28.94%) in Week 4, and 8 of 46 attempts (17.39%) last Thursday against the New England Patriots. It's no coincidence that Brate has received four, six, and nine targets over the course of those three games.
The primary reason to avoid using Evans this week is that he struggled mightily in his last matchup against Patrick Peterson and the Arizona Cardinals.
ARZ faced TB in Wk 2 last year. Patrick Peterson shadowed Mike Evans on 33-of-57 routes. Evans ended up with 6-70-1 on 18(!) total targets.
— Adam Levitan (@adamlevitan) October 10, 2017
Despite that, Brate's increasing opportunity is clearly worrisome for Evans moving forward.