On Monday afternoon, the San Francisco 49ers made headlines by signing free agent wide receiver Mike Evans away from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, per Ian Rapoport of the NFL Network. Evans joins a 49ers team that is looking to build off this past year's run to the NFC divisional round, where they lost to the eventual Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks.
One person who is ecstatic about Evans' arrival in San Francisco is none other than 49ers star tight end George Kittle, who took to social media to share his reaction to the news.
“Let’s goooo @MikeEvans13_ welcome to the BAY!!!!” wrote Kittle on X, formerly Twitter.
Evans will be 33 years old by the time next season gets underway, and recently saw his streak of consecutive 1,000-yard seasons come to an end after a collarbone injury sidelined him for much of the Buccaneers' 2025 campaign.
However, when he's healthy, Evans is still a productive wide receiver who makes for a big target down the field, able to consistently beat opposing cornerbacks to jump balls.
The 49ers will need all the help they can get in the wide receiver department, with Kittle likely sidelined for much of the year in 2026 after suffering an Achilles injury in the team's playoff loss to Seattle, and with Brandon Aiyuk's future prospects in San Francisco coming more and more into doubt.
Overall, the 49ers will be hoping for a much healthier 2026 season than what they endured in 2025, when Brock Purdy, Fred Warner, and a host of other key pieces all missed significant time. While Evans is certainly an injury risk at this stage of his career, he was mostly able to stay on the field with consistency during his tenure with the Buccaneers.
In any case, the deal with Evans and the 49ers will become official when free agency opens up later this week.
