Slate StatsNFLInjury impact

If Mike Evans is out, who gets his targets?

The San Francisco 49ers room absorbs +0.85 receptions, and Jacob Cowing takes the largest single share at +0.22. The work stays overwhelmingly inside the wide receiver room.

Where the work goes

Change in projected receptions for every other player in the offense. The bars are small on purpose — a vacated role is shared out, and any tool showing one replacement absorbing a whole target load is telling you something the data does not support.

Receptions gained if Mike Evans sitsJacob Cowing+0.2WR 27% snapsDeebo Samuel Sr.+0.2WR 51% snapsDemarcus Robinson+0.2WR 47% snapsKhaDarel Hodge+0.2WR 20% snapschange in projected receptions

Every player in the room

PlayerNowIf outChange
Christian McCaffrey RB · 54% snaps4.904.90+0.00
Deebo Samuel Sr. WR · 51% snaps4.004.21+0.21
George Kittle TE · 47% snaps3.903.90+0.00
Mike Evans WR · 64% snaps3.60OUT
Demarcus Robinson WR · 47% snaps2.002.21+0.21
Luke Farrell TE · 62% snaps1.101.10+0.00
Jake Tonges TE · 12% snaps0.800.80+0.00
Kaelon Black RB · 38% snaps0.800.80+0.00
Jacob Cowing WR · 27% snaps0.600.82+0.22
Jordan James RB · 15% snaps0.600.60+0.00
KhaDarel Hodge WR · 20% snaps0.500.71+0.21

What the data says happens

Measured across every regular-season game from 2018 onward, each beneficiary compared against his own trailing four-game form and net of what the same players do in weeks the room’s number one actually plays.

RoomReceptions gainednt
Receivers+0.5841,53711.16
Tight ends+0.1751,0803.33
Backs+0.1131,0112.00

The room total is predictable. Which player takes it is not. Every candidate predictor of who gains — pecking order, snap share, route depth, trailing targets — correlates at roughly r = 0.02. In any single week one player usually takes about 60% of what was vacated; it is simply not predictably the same one.

Mike Evans’s full stats and usageSnap share, target share, game log and this week’s projection

Cascade effects 2018–2026, paired within player, net of control · projections as-of-week with no lookahead · 2026 week 3