{"id":808755,"date":"2026-03-12T20:12:18","date_gmt":"2026-03-12T20:12:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/808755\/"},"modified":"2026-03-12T20:12:18","modified_gmt":"2026-03-12T20:12:18","slug":"mike-evans-states-joining-49ers-in-free-agency-was-a-no-brainer-nbc-sports-bay-area-california","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/808755\/","title":{"rendered":"Mike Evans states joining 49ers in free agency was a \u2018no-brainer\u2019 \u2013 NBC Sports Bay Area &#038; California"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Wide receiver <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pro-football-reference.com\/players\/E\/EvanMi00.htm\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Mike Evans<\/a> did not leave his NFL home of the past 12 years to just blend into the scene with the 49ers.<\/p>\n<p>Evans said he was impressed that the 49ers overcame an abundance of injuries to key players in 2025 and still finished the regular season with a 12-5 record.<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcsportsbayarea.com\/nfl\/san-francisco-49ers\/christian-mccaffrey-playoff-win-philadelphia-eagles\/1905922\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">49ers defeated the Philadelphia Eagles<\/a> in the first round of the NFC playoffs before their season came to an end with a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcsportsbayarea.com\/nfl\/san-francisco-49ers\/brock-purdy-playoff-loss-seahawks-analysis\/1908285\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">41-6 loss to the Seattle Seahawks<\/a>, the eventual Super Bowl champions.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI feel like they were one piece away,\u201d Evans said Thursday on a video call with Bay Area reporters. \u201cAnd I think I\u2019m that piece. I look forward to coming here and proving that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Evans was in Santa Clara on Thursday <a href=\"https:\/\/www.49ers.com\/news\/49ers-sign-wr-mike-evans-to-three-year-deal-nfl-free-agency\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">to sign a three-year contract<\/a> that he agreed upon within the first 90 minutes of the open negotiating period on Monday.<\/p>\n<p>Evans, 32, comes to the 49ers as one of the most-decorated receivers in NFL history. He ranks 10th all-time with 108 touchdown receptions. He is 21st in receiving yards at 13,052 and 31st with 866 receptions.<\/p>\n<p>As he approached free agency, Evans said he did his research and was looking to join a contender with a good quarterback. In his mind, the 49ers met both criteria.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo I was looking at here, Buffalo Bills, teams that needed a No. 1 wide receiver,\u201d Evans said. \u201cI liked this place. This was my No. 1 spot on my own.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>At the opening of the negotiating period on Monday, Evans spoke with coach Kyle Shanahan and general manager John Lynch, he confirmed.<\/p>\n<p>Evans said he has always l<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcsportsbayarea.com\/nfl\/san-francisco-49ers\/jerry-rice-mike-evans-free-agency\/1922930\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">oved how Shanahan calls plays<\/a>. Shanahan shared his vision for how Evans could be integrated into the 49ers\u2019 offense, and Evans was ready to commit.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd it solidified it for me,\u201d Evans said. \u201cI\u2019ve always been a fan of Kyle. And he just talked about how he sees me in this offense. And it made me even happier, and it was a no-brainer really after I got on the phone with him.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/49ers-talk-with-matt-maiocco.simplecast.com\/episodes\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Download and follow the 49ers Talk Podcast<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Wide receiver Mike Evans did not leave his NFL home of the past 12 years to just blend&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":808756,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2026],"tags":[24991,7,700,2592],"class_list":["post-808755","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-football","tag-49ers-analysis","tag-football","tag-mike-evans","tag-nfl-free-agency"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116218032603304499","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/808755","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=808755"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/808755\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/808756"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=808755"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=808755"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=808755"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}