Barely used at U-M, rookie Evans finds role as Bengals RB
Heading into the start of the 2020 college football season, Chris Evans was the most experienced running back at Michigan, but he received hardly any playing time.
He finished the season with 16 carries, nine receptions and 160 yards on a Michigan team that went 2-4. The Wolverines didn’t find a role for Evans, who nearly fell through the cracks as an NFL draft prospect.
“All the stuff I went through at Michigan, I just feel like that was part of my story,” Evans said. “I knew as soon as I got the opportunity to do what I do, be valued like this, it’s just surreal.”
Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh never featured Evans as a receiving threat out of the backfield, but Bengals coach Zac Taylor gave Evans that opportunity during his rookie season. In the Bengals’ three preseason games, Evans had 132 yards. He played so well in the first two games that Taylor used the preseason finale to evaluate the other running backs on the roster.
In just two months, Evans went from a sixth round pick who hadn’t played a big role on a football team since 2017 into a player who will likely get Week 1 snaps for the Bengals against the Minnesota Vikings.
“Adversity introduces you to yourself to see if this is what you really want to do,” Evans said. “It taught me a lot with academics and the running back situation. Every single part of it (is) being positive. Just continue to work on your craft and be ready when your time comes.”
Evans didn’t know what to expect at the start of his pre-draft process in January. He worked out in Dallas at the end of the season, and he was about to buy a plane ticket home for a short break.
Then he got an invitation to the 2021
Senior Bowl.
“I understood once I got to the Senior Bowl, it was a wrap,” Evans said. “All I needed was a chance.”
While Taylor evaluated offensive linemen at the Senior Bowl, he kept noticing one running back catching passes on routes out of the backfield.
After the Bengals drafted him to be a potential third down back, Evans watched every snap that his predecessor Giovani Bernard, who now plays for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, took last season. Evans has been learning by watching tape of Bernard blocking pass rushers.
“At this level, I would say the blitzes are so crazy, so crazy,” Evans said. “(Running backs coach Justin Hill) made some cutup (videos) that I have to (watch) them five times to even see what they’re doing and how I would even process all that within the quick second. It’s third down, the crowd’s loud and you might not hear the call. It’s just crazy.”