The 49ers are betting big that Mike Evans still has plenty left.
San Francisco handed the veteran receiver a three-year deal reportedly worth up to $60.4 million, and that kind of commitment naturally invites the age question. Evans will turn 33 before he takes his first regular-season snap in Kyle Shanahan’s offense, and one anonymous NFL scout told ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler that the signs of a slowdown are already there.
“He’s declining, but he’s sort of timeless, still big and athletic and gets open,” the scout said. “Will be interesting to see how Kyle Shanahan utilizes him in different ways.”
That’s the tension here: Evans may be aging, but he’s still the kind of wideout who can make a defense pay. At 6-foot-5 and 231 pounds, he brings the kind of physical presence that doesn’t just disappear.
And unlike some bigger receivers, his game has never been built solely on overpowering corners with size. He knows how to create separation, and he’s done it without elite speed for years.
That’s part of why San Francisco was comfortable making the move.
There is, of course, a real case for concern. Evans’ 2025 season was derailed by injuries, with an early hamstring strain and a midseason collarbone break limiting him to 30 catches for 368 yards in eight games.
His 12.3 yards per reception was the lowest of his career. After opening his career with 11 straight 1,000-yard seasons, those numbers look like a clear drop-off at first glance.
But the bigger issue was availability. Evans never got the chance to settle in, and for the first time in his 12-year career, he played fewer than 13 games. That makes it hard to treat last season as proof that he’s finished.
The 49ers also don’t need him to be the same player he was at 25. They need him to be dependable on the outside, give Brock Purdy a trustworthy target, and stay dangerous near the goal line. If he can do that, he can still matter a lot in this offense.
Purdy won’t be asked to force-feed Evans. He’ll still have Christian McCaffrey, George Kittle, Ricky Pearshall and Christian Kirk to work through.
Maybe Evans has lost a step. Most receivers entering their 13th season have.
But “declining” and “no longer dangerous” are not the same thing, and Shanahan may be the perfect coach to show that difference.
In Other News...
Kyle Shanahan's Super Bowl Legacy Just Took Another Brutal Hit
Kyle Shanahans run of near-misses keeps hanging over the 49ers, even as he remains one of the NFLs most respected offensive minds. The latest reminder came in a look back at some of the best Super Bowl-less teams of the last 20 years, where Shanahans fingerprints showed up more than once through the 2016 Falcons, the 2019 49ers and the 2023 49ers. Each group had enough talent and momentum to reach the leagues biggest stage, and each one left with the same frustrating result, adding another layer to the coachs already complicated postseason reputation.
For San Francisco, the hard part is that the story is not just about one loss or one bad bounce. Shanahan has continued to guide the 49ers back into contention, but the pattern of coming up short has made every deep run feel heavier than the last. Even with the roster still built to chase a title, the lingering questions around his biggest-game decisions and how much trust he places in the people around him remain part of the backdrop as the 49ers try again to finally break through. [Read more 🡒]
49ers Fans May Soon Revisit John Lynchs Most Questioned Pick
The 49ers took plenty of heat when they used their first pick in the 2026 NFL Draft on wide receiver De'Zhaun Stribling, with critics calling it an unnecessary reach and ESPNs Seth Walder going so far as to label the move bad process. Even so, there is already a different conversation building around the rookie, because some evaluators see enough talent and opportunity to put him in the early mix for Offensive Rookie of the Year consideration.
For now, Stribling is not being handed anything in San Francisco, and the path to meaningful snaps runs through a crowded receiver room. Mike Evans, Ricky Pearsall and Christian Kirk are all ahead of him, but the door could open quickly if injuries hit the depth chart, which is why this pick may end up looking a lot different by midseason than it did on draft night. [Read more 🡒]
49ers Could Be Headed For Their Biggest Offensive Shakeup In Years
The 49ers are heading into camp with a few offensive roles suddenly looking a lot less settled than they did a year ago. One of the biggest questions sits at wide receiver, where the spot alongside Mike Evans is open enough to turn into a real battle, with Ricky Pearsall and rookie De'Zhaun Stribling both in the mix as San Francisco sorts out how it wants that grouping to look this season.
There is a similar sense of change at tight end, where Jake Tonges new contract extension points to a larger role behind George Kittle and hints at a different usage pattern for the offense as a whole. If Tonges is going to be on the field more often, it could naturally squeeze the snaps available to Kyle Juszczyk, which makes this one of those offseason shifts that could quietly alter how the 49ers line up in more than one way. [Read more 🡒]