The San Francisco 49ers are once again gearing up for what should be an extremely competitive race in the NFC West once again in 2026. Last season, San Francisco navigated a ton of injuries to still win 12 games and take down the Eagles in the playoffs.
Unfortunately, San Francisco was still just the third-best team in its own division, as the Rams and Seahawks each reached the NFC Championship Game. Seattle ended up winning the Super Bowl, so the 49ers will be hungry to get back into the playoffs and dethrone their rivals.
You could feel that urgency from the 49ers in free agency, where the mission was clearly to beef up their pass-catching core. Last season, Japan Jennings and Ricky Pearsall struggled with repeated injuries while Brandon Aiyuk was sidelined, leaving the cupboard thin for Brock Purdy. Now, he will have Mike Evans and Christian Kirk to throw the ball to after San Francisco signed them in free agency.
Head coach Kyle Shanahan and general manager John Lynch are looking forward to more than just the receiving aspect of things for both Kirk and Evans when they get to San Francisco. On Tuesday at the NFL league meetings, they talked about the additions and what they add to the offense, via David Lombardi of The SF Standard.
“He competes. He blocks. I like getting, for the lack of a better word, men at the position — guys who have done it before and nothing’s too big for them,” Shanahan said of Evans.
“To have two grown men in that room, that's exciting,” Lynch added about the two additions.
The 49ers were able to lure Evans away from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on a three-year contract in what was a very surprising move. Kirk is also coming to San Francisco after having a bit of a resurgence late last season with the Houston Texans.
With added weaponry around Purdy and Christian McCaffrey, and George Kittle coming back from a torn Achilles at some point during the season, this 49ers offense will be very difficult to stop once again in 2026.
