Should I start Puka Nacua or Mike Evans in Week 9?

Where the draft room stands

Live drafts hold no current pick on Puka Nacua, and the board ranks him 51st overall on the rest of his evidence.

In 2QB drafts he goes at ADP 6.

Live drafts hold no current pick on Mike Evans, and the board ranks him 55th overall on the rest of his evidence.

The market-based projections

The market-based projection for Puka Nacua is 4.8 PPR points a game off 1 market across 6 market sources. That is 30 percent of what a wide receiver's projection needs, so it is a fragment of one rather than a projection.

The market-based projection for Mike Evans is 4.6 PPR points a game off 1 market across 1 market source. That is 30 percent of what a wide receiver's projection needs, so it is a fragment of one rather than a projection.

Puka Nacua's projection is not complete, so the two figures are not set against each other here.

This season so far

Through Week 8, Puka Nacua has been on the field for 86 percent of LAR snaps, drawn 34 percent of the targets and had 22 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 20 of the offence's 48 third down targets, had 3 of its 18 chances inside the five and seen 8 of its 26 two minute targets.

His 74 targets have averaged 7.7 air yards.

In Week 6 against ARI he caught 6 of 7 targets for 80 yards and did not score.

In Week 7 against LV he carried 2 times for 10 yards, caught 8 of 10 targets for 68 yards and scored 1 touchdown.

In Week 8 against LAC he caught 11 of 12 targets for 80 yards and scored 1 touchdown.

Through Week 6, Mike Evans has been on the field for 55 percent of SF snaps, drawn 23 percent of the targets and had 9 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 19 of the offence's 43 third down targets, had 2 of its 19 chances inside the five and seen 9 of its 25 two minute targets.

His 39 targets have averaged 14.6 air yards.

In Week 4 against DEN he caught 5 of 8 targets for 76 yards and did not score.

In Week 5 against SEA he caught 7 of 10 targets for 113 yards and scored 1 touchdown.

In Week 6 against WAS he caught 3 of 5 targets for 94 yards and did not score.

Their 2025 seasons

In 2025 Puka Nacua played 16 games and scored 375.0 PPR points, 23.4 a game, finishing WR1.

He caught 129 of 166 targets for 1715 yards and 10 touchdowns, with 16 red zone targets.

That came to 10.4 targets a game, a 78 percent catch rate and 13.3 yards a catch.

He was on the field for 68 percent of the snaps in the games he played.

In 2025 Mike Evans played 8 games and scored 84.8 PPR points, 10.6 a game, finishing WR76.

He caught 30 of 61 targets for 368 yards and 3 touchdowns, with 8 red zone targets.

That came to 7.6 targets a game, a 49 percent catch rate and 12.3 yards a catch.

He was on the field for 65 percent of the snaps in the games he played.

Puka Nacua was available for 8 games more.

Head to head

In 2025 Puka Nacua scored 23.4 PPR points a game and Mike Evans 10.6, 12.8 a game between them.

Puka Nacua finished WR1 that year and Mike Evans WR76.

Puka Nacua had 105 more targets than Mike Evans, 166 to 61.

Puka Nacua had 1347 more receiving yards than Mike Evans, 1715 to 368.

This season Puka Nacua holds the bigger snap share, 86 percent against 55 percent.

This season Puka Nacua holds the bigger target share, 34 percent against 23 percent.

Byes and availability

Puka Nacua is off in Week 11 and Mike Evans in Week 8, so either can cover the other's bye.

Mike Evans is listed as out on the injury report.