<\/p>\n
San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Mike Evans (5) during practice Wednesday, June 3, 2026, in Santa Clara, Calif.<\/p>\n
Jeff Chiu\/Associated Press<\/p>\n
San Francisco 49ers WR Mike Evans speaks at a news conference after practice Wednesday, June 3, 2026, in Santa Clara, Calif.<\/p>\n
Jeff Chiu\/Associated Press<\/p>\n
Players such as Mike Evans<\/a> are often known as coaches on the field. That could certainly be the case with the 13-year veteran. But in Evans\u2019 case, he\u2019s unquestionably a coach off it.<\/p>\n The six-time Pro Bowl wide receiver has toggled between two teams since he signed his three-year, $42.4 million contract in March: His new team, the San Francisco 49ers<\/a>, and the Mike Evans Elite AAU basketball team based outside Houston in Katy, Texas, which includes one of his three daughters.<\/p>\n \u201cI feel like I’m a fair coach,\u201d Evans said. \u201cI coach them hard. But I coach girls \u2013 14-year-old girls — so that’s a lot to deal with. It\u2019s been going well. Our last tournament wasn’t a great showing, but we’ve gotten better compared to last year. I’m looking forward to finishing up the summer strong.\u201d<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Evans\u2019 side gig is a reminder that he\u2019s more than the most decorated wide receiver the 49ers have had since Terrell Ownens\u2019 final season in 2003. He\u2019s a father of four who has been married since 2016 and is a four-time nominee for the NFL\u2019s Walter Payton Man of the Year award due to his work to support youth education, single moms and domestic-violence victims.<\/p>\n And there\u2019s this: Despite his accomplishments, he might be among the most drama-free wideouts employed by a franchise that\u2019s dealt with its share of erratic behavior from players at the position in recent seasons. The QB1\u2019s first impressions of the new WR1? The man who was The Guy in Tampa Bay for his first 12 seasons acts like he\u2019s just another guy.<\/p>\n San Francisco Chronicle Logo<\/p>\n Make us a Preferred Source to get more of our news when you search.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Add Preferred Source<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n \u201cMike is obviously a Hall of Fame receiver and all those things, but he’s a bro to all of us,\u201d Brock Purdy<\/a> said. \u201cHe\u2019s chatting it up, making jokes \u2013 he\u2019s just a real dude. He\u2019s a father. He\u2019s bouncing back and forth, going back home to Texas, and coaching up his daughter\u2019s basketball team. He\u2019s just a real dude that we all love being around.\u201d<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Meanwhile, All-Pro tight end George Kittle<\/a> never mentioned the 49ers\u2019 recent top receivers \u2013 Deebo Samuel<\/a>, Brandon Aiyuk<\/a> and Jauan Jennings<\/a> \u2013 during his 11-minute meeting with the media last week. But his analysis of what Evans provides fit an offseason theme in which his maturity has been subtly contrasted with his predecessors.<\/p>\n General manager John Lynch<\/a> has said, speaking of Evans and newly signed wideout Christian Kirk, 29, that \u201chaving two grown men, I think, is really exciting,\u201d adding that he didn\u2019t mean to \u201cdisparage anybody we\u2019ve had.\u201d Head coach Kyle Shanahan<\/a> has echoed Lynch\u2019s thoughts, saying: \u201cI love getting, for lack of a better word, men at the position.\u201d<\/p>\n (Evans) \u201ctakes ball incredibly seriously,\u201d Kittle said. \u201cAnd I think that’s just kind of sets the tone for the wide receiver room. Especially when you have a bunch of young guys in there. I think it’s just very beneficial to the Niners that he’s here. That’s not just playmaking ability. It\u2019s just how he treats it every single day.\u201d<\/p>\n Samuel and Aiyuk have each earned All-Pro honors since 2021 while combining for three 1,000-yard seasons. And Jennings had 132 catches, 1,618 yards and 15 touchdowns over the past two seasons. But Kittle invoked Emmanuel Sanders when discussing Evans. Sanders, a Pro Bowl wide receiver, was 32 when the 49ers acquired him at the trade deadline seven years ago.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is the first legit veteran wide receiver I’ve had on my roster since Emmanuel Sanders in 2019, in my opinion,\u201d Kittle said. \u201cNothing against all the other veteran receivers I’ve had, but \u2026 just to see him run routes. The way that he sees things, it’s just so fun. Emmanuel Sanders was super savvy (and) he did some cool things to get open. But Mike Evans just brings a whole new thing.\u201d<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n San Francisco 49ers WR Mike Evans catches a pass during practice Wednesday, June 3, 2026, in Santa Clara, Calif.<\/p>\n Jeff Chiu\/Associated Press<\/p>\n One thing Evans provides: red-zone brilliance. Kittle mentioned a recent red-zone session practice session Evans dominated, which shouldn\u2019t be surprising: Of Evans\u2019 108 career touchdown catches, 62 have come inside the 20-yard line, 50 have been inside the 10 and 30 have been inside the 5.<\/p>\n \u201cMy frame is a big part of that,\u201d Evans said. \u201cYou\u2019ve got to win in tight situations down there in the red zone. And I have the leaping ability, I have the awareness and a lot of reps at doing it.\u201d<\/p>\n Evans\u2019 frame \u2013 he\u2019s 6-foot-5 and 231 pounds \u2013 and vertical jump explain his late start in football. He was a standout basketball player at Ball High School in Galveston, Texas, who didn\u2019t play football until his senior season. Still, after playing just two seasons at Texas A&M, he was the No. 7 pick in the 2014 draft and became the only player in NFL history to begin his career with 11 straight 1,000-yard receiving seasons.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Which adds up to Evans, who is in some ways just a regular guy, being also one of a kind. The 49ers\u2019 initial impression of him? That it\u2019s a winning combination.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Mike Evans (5) during practice Wednesday, June 3, 2026, in Santa Clara, Calif.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":356474,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[1818,1736,299,90113,101,296,103,102,104,106,105,127],"class_list":["post-356473","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-francisco","tag-49ers","tag-john-lynch","tag-kyle-shanahan","tag-mike-evans","tag-san-francisco","tag-san-francisco-49ers","tag-san-francisco-headlines","tag-san-francisco-news","tag-sf","tag-sf-headlines","tag-sf-news","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/356473","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=356473"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/356473\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/356474"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=356473"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=356473"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=356473"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/a>
<\/a><\/p>\n
<\/p>\n