49ers fullback Kyle Juszczyk called Mike Evans “ unguardable ” during the offseason practices. 49ers tight end George Kittle concurs. Kittle lauded Evans’ veteran leadership and football IQ. “One thing that I was talking to [quarterback Brock] Purdy about a couple of days ago was that this is our first veteran wide receiver since we had Emmanuel Sanders,” Kittle said recently on the New Heights podcast, via David Bonilla of 49erswebzone.com. “Like, I had Deebo [Samuel]. I had Brandon Aiyuk. But they were both like years one through four—Deebo was like year five. “But Mike Evans is a guy, like, just watching him and his savviness—you know the concept; you have coverage in the red zone; one guy has the corner; the other guy has the ‘now’ route underneath it—and the way he sets it up versus a defender with outside leverage and then just gets wide open, and I’m just like, ‘It’s so fun to watch.’” The 49ers, even with all their injuries last season, still finished fifth in passing offense. If Evans can stay healthy, he should make them even better. Evans’ NFL-record 11 consecutive 1,000-yard seasons to start his career ended last season when he had career-lows in catches (30), yards (368) and touchdowns (three) because of a collarbone injury that limited him to a career-low eight games. “Just so savvy,” Kittle said. “Catches everything; runs great routes; gives great effort. I’m all-in on Mike Evans.”
Mike Evans is making a strong impression on his new 49ers teammates, while his former quarterback is missing him nearly 3,000 miles away. 49ers players have said Evans, who signed a three-year, $42.4 million contract with San Francisco in free agency, has been one of the more notable standouts at OTAs, and his former quarterback Baker Mayfield said on Friday he was disappointed to see Evans leave. “Every single day that I see Mike, I go, ‘wow Mike Evans is here,'” 49ers tight end George Kittle told reporters on Wednesday. “I think I’m annoying it at this point, but still I pinch myself every day.” According to Matt Barrows of The Athletic , Evans, 32, has already found an early connection with quarterback Brock Purdy , as the duo came away with “three to five” touchdowns in a red-zone period earlier this week. Barrows reported that during the team’s 7-on-7 drills on Thursday, Purdy went to Evans on a 10-yard out route near the sideline, then the two connected on a deep ball down the sideline against 49ers cornerback Deommodore Lenoir . “This is like the first legit veteran wide receiver I’ve had on my roster since Emmanuel Sanders in 2019, in my opinion,” Kittle said. “Nothing against the other veteran wide receivers I’ve had, he’s a Hall of Famer, who’s a first team All-Pro, Pro Bowl guy. He’s an incredible wide receiver.” The 6-foot-5, 231-pound Evans has been one of the most dominant red-zone receivers in the NFL in his 12-year career. He has six seasons where he has finished with 12 or more touchdowns, and recently joined Jerry Rice in 2024 as the second player in NFL history to have 11 consecutive seasons with 1,000 receiving yards. Evans is ranked 21st in all-time receiving yards with 13,052, but should find himself in the top 10 within the next two years as Reggie Wayne ranks 10th overall with 14,345. Rice holds the all-time receiving record at 22,895, and given Evans’ age, it seems unlikely he will be able to take it. Two years ago, Evans passed Tim Brown and Steve Largent for all-time touchdowns receiving when he caught his 101st career touchdown against the Carolina Panthers . “You don’t find too many players that while they’re still playing, you can confidently say they’re gonna be a Hall of Fame player,” 49ers offensive tackle Trent Williams said on Wednesday. “… It means a lot. What he’s done over the years, it’s hard for a lot of kids, young guys, not to fan girl over a guy like that.” The decision to leave the Buccaneers shocked the NFL, as Evans has won a Super Bowl with the Bucs and is Tampa Bay’s all-time leading receiver. On Friday, Mayfield revealed he was shocked when he found out Evans signed with the 49ers. “There’s no way to sugarcoat it, it’s disappointing to not have him back,” Mayfield told reporters. “Just the caliber player he is, he’s a Hall of Famer, I thought he deserved to be a Buc for life. Things happen but luckily him and I have a great relationship.”
The 49ers wide receivers had a dominant showing in a recent OTA practice, with new addition Mike Evans drawing significant praise from teammates like Trent Williams and George Kittle. Brock Purdy connected well with Evans, who showed effectiveness in isolated situations. The team also canceled mandatory minicamp practices as a reward for perfect attendance, coinciding with the World Cup being held at Levi's Stadium
It’s a topic that will bring up painful, emotional, and downright no-good memories. We asked San Francisco 49ers fans what one moment in history they would change for the franchise. Depending on your age range, the answer is easy. As randywildman pointed out, if you’re over the age of 40, the first thing that comes to mind is probably Roger Craig fumbling. That was among the most popular answers, and rightfully so. The Niners were on the doorstep of an opportunity to three-peat. That fourth quarter marked a turning point for the franchise. Joe Montana suffered an injury, paving the way for Steve Young. Unfortunately, the 49ers lost the game due to the fumble without allowing a touchdown. Pat Summerall’s infamous “there will be no three-peat” still haunts any 49ers fan who watched that game. User Seb summed up the pain, highlighting the Charles Haley trade, not handing the ball to Frank Gore near the goal line against the Ravens, Jimmy Garoppolo missing Emmanuel Sanders , and not blocking the Chiefs ’ best player near the goal line in the Super Bowl. Greg Roman of all people failing to run the ball remains confusing after all of these years. Knowing what we know about Jimmy and how he never caught on after he left the Niners, it’s more surprising in hindsight how successful the organization was with him under center. That probably speaks to how loaded the rest of the roster was. The options are endless, as Root2401er pointed out: Not let Mike Shanahan leave, promote him to head coach instead. Don’t extend JJ Stokes so we can keep Jerry Rice, that’s another. Maybe draft Pat Mahomes ? That might just have been a good idea. Maybe sign Tom Brady ? In today’s NFL, the 49ers would have gotten a ton of scrutiny for letting an offensive genius like Mike Shanahan walk. It’s difficult to imagine a scenario in which the team would pick a defensive mind like George Siefert over Shanahan. Siefert would end up coaching the 49ers through the 1996 season. Things worked out pretty well for Shanahan after he left. Then we have hindsight. For example, poo-pooing the Trey Lance draft pick. To this day, I still have no problem with the idea that you’re going to bring in a game-changing, athletic, rocket-armed quarterback. Lance was the opposite of what they had. It didn’t work out. That’s part of the game. But to act like the 49ers have struggled in the years without Lance is laughable. In 2022 and 20223, they were, in the most literal sense, the best teams in the NFL. That’s not saying there was luck involved there after hitting on Brock Purdy , but the foundation was laid for whichever quarterback to come in and shine. That’s not the only quarterback where there’s revisionist history. I think it’s fair to question why there wasn’t a quarterback selected in 2017. You’re a new regime. Deshaun Watson was outstanding in college with obvious NFL tools. In the draft community, Patrick Mahomes was looked at as an intriguing prospect. Wouldn’t you rather be wrong on a quarterback than any other position? Especially if that position is a tweener defensive lineman. I’d push back on the 2005 NFL Draft. Alex Smith was the definition of safe. He turned out to be better than that and worthy of the No. 1 overall pick. Of course, there was also a future Hall of Famer in that draft. So it’s easy to look back and say, “You shou’dve drafted Aaron Rodgers .” That roster was abysmal. The rookie version of Rodgers, who, remember, we never saw, was not flourishing in that offensive infrastructure. We can go through each decade and discuss several moments. This is one of the most storied franchises full of “What if?” moments. What ones did we miss? Scroll down and let us know in the comments
Under the “football is a game of inches” mantra is a picture of Kyle Shanahan leaning against a Gatorade cooler in the San Francisco 49ers locker room. You cannot tell Shanahan’s story without Emmanuel Sanders , MetLife Stadium, blockbuster trades for future Hall of Famers, or a Google search of “Can you still play with a torn UCL?” It’s that time of year when we make predictions about the upcoming 49ers’ season. The writers with zero rooting interest believe the Niners are destined for another playoff run. As always, expectations are high. However, there are varying degrees to which this team can be good and potentially great. We’ve seen them look like the most dominant team in the league for nearly a full season. We’ve also seen them bottom out and miss the playoffs completely. Then there are the iterations of the 49ers where they stumbled into the playoffs, despite being a cut below the league’s elite. No team in the 2020s experienced the volatility of an NFL season more than San Francisco . The ride has been turbulent. The past five seasons have established the 49ers’ best and worst versions. The peak looks like a team scoring 40 while their opponent struggles to get to 20. The basement is struggling to score a touchdown or having multiple three-game losing streaks in a season. We’ll use the 49ers’ past performance to predict what 2026 may look like. The impact Brock Purdy has had on the 49ers cannot be understated. Once he took over around December 2022, the offense, on the brink of a breakout, went nuclear to end the season. The defense, already excellent, morphed into the stingiest unit in the league. The season ended on a sour note, but the window between December 2022 and the NFC Championship Game that year was what it looked like when everything was clicking. Look at that season compared to other years this decade: Offense is at the top, and defense is at the bottom. The higher the better for the offense, while you want your EPA on defense to be lower. The 49ers didn’t lose a regular-season game after Halloween that year. From the time Purdy took over through the Divisional Playoff Round, the team had a +78 point differential. Two games were played within one possession. One was a Thursday night game against the Seahawks, and the other came against Jarrett Stidham — a game to this day remains among the most exciting of this timeline. What does everything breaking the 49ers’ way look like in 2026? The defensive personnel would need to take a Neil Armstrong-level leap for mankind. My theory for why the defense dramatically improved in the second half is that they had to defend fewer possessions without the pressure of feeling like they needed to get a stop on every drive. It helps when you have these four as your second-level defenders: Azeez Al-Shaair on one side and Talanoa Hufanga on the other, with Fred Warner and Dre Greenlaw down the middle. This was before Arik Armstead returned to the lineup, another piece of the puzzle that helped the second-half surge. Hufanga’s sensational season was rewarded with All-Pro recognition, but once Armstead returned to the lineup, the 49ers’ rushing EPA was lower than any team in the league since 2019. Their rushing EPA of -0.272 topped the Seahawks last season (-0.206), the Vikings stout run defense in ’24 (-0.203), the Bucs in 2019 (-0.239) and 2020 (-0.209), as well as the Jets 2019 unit (-0.234). Those are the best rushing defenses since 2019. That team had a breakout candidate in Charles Omenihu , who managed 43 pressures and 29 quarterback hits. The team is banking on that being Osa Odighizuwa this year. Finding the Samson Ebukam of the group unlocks a different tier. Does Alfred Collins take a jump? Is it Romello Height in the form of a pass rush? Gracen Halton landing in the perfect role? Or is it a situation where the success is due to the sum being greater than its parts? Ideally, that’s Mykel Williams . Ebukam was known as a run defender, but as the th
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