NFL: Wadsworth native Mitchell Evans enjoys playing in front of family, friends

CLEVELAND — The pride of the Wadsworth football program had a mostly happy homecoming weekend as a member of the Carolina Panthers. Tight end Mitchell Evans caught a season-high three passes for a career-best 36 yards in his first NFL game in Cleveland, where the Panthers lost 21-18 to the Browns on Sunday afternoon. Evans, who played for the Grizzlies from 2018-20, had 22 family members and friends cheering for him from their seats behind the visiting bench at Huntington Bank Field. There were between 30-40 total members of the community in attendance. "Even though I'm now in Charlotte, this is home," the 6-foot-5, 265-pounder said. "I grew up here and I still receive messages from Wadsworth people all the time. They tell me the city of Wadsworth is rooting for you, and I always have love for them, too. "The only thing that would have made it better was if the outcome had been different." A fifth-round choice of the Panthers in the 2025 NFL Draft out of Notre Dame, Evans made receptions from quarterback Bryce Young in the second, third and fourth quarters. The latter was an 19-yarder on the first play of Carolina's longest drive of the day. Evans took a pass in the right flat and rumbled to the Panthers 47. Five plays later, Young threw a touchdown to John Metchie III that gave Carolina an 18-13 lead with 4:29 remaining. "That was one of our bread-and-butter plays," Evans said of his pass route. "We knew they played a lot of man, so we felt good about it." The Panthers arrived in Northeast Ohio early Saturday, affording Evans a chance to spend time with his loved ones in the evening. With NFC teams only scheduled to visit AFC cities once every eight years, the timing worked out well. It also marked the first time Evans had played a regular-season game in the Great Lakes region thanks to Carolina's heavy concentration of Southeast contests. "This was a lot of fun and a pretty special experience," a chuckling Evans said. "It was nice to have so many people from Wadsworth rooting for me, even though most of them say they'll always be Browns fans." Evans' three previous three-reception games occurred during his rookie season, when he made 19 catches for 171 yards and two touchdowns while playing in all 17 games for the Panthers. Now 23, Evans has five receptions for 58 yards through three games this year. Carolina is running a good amount of multiple-tight end sets under coach Dave Canales, using Tommy Tremble and former Pro Bowler Darren Waller with him. "Mitchell's knowledge has continued growing and that's allowing him to play freer, which is nice to see," Waller said. "He gets more opportunities each week and I think he takes advantage of them. He's going to keep getting better, too." Contact Brian Dulik at sports@medina-gazette.com. Follow him @BrianDulik on X.