Add The California Post on Google If Mike Evans didn’t seem like such a chill dude, he sure would be scary.
Six feet, five inches and 231 pounds of pretty much pure muscle. Some of it covered in Harry Potter tattoos, an illustration of his well-known obsession with the magical J.K. Rowling series.
But opposing cornerbacks don’t get to see that side of him.
Take Jaylen Watson, for example. The Rams corner lined up opposite Evans on third down at the Los Angeles 2-yard line, with the 49ers at risk of having to settle for three points on an otherwise methodical march down the field coming out of halftime, still leading only 10-7.
If Kyle Shanahan has learned anything from matching up with Evans over the previous 12 years of his career, he should know the future Hall-of-Fame receiver wasn’t going to let that happen.
“We’ve watched Mike do that for his whole career,” he said. “Just never been on the team with him. … I love calling plays for Mike.”
Watson, a respectable 6-foot-2, initiated contact at the line of scrimmage and never let up as Evans ran a fade route into the corner of the end zone. There was just 0.8 yards of separation between Brock Purdy’s intended target and the defender face-guarding him, according to the NFL’s Next Gen Stats.
He threw it up to him, anyway. The 49ers walked away with seven points and a 17-7 lead, and they never looked back on their way to a convincing 27-7 season-opening win.
For Evans, it was the 109th touchdown of his career — two away from tying Tony Gonzalez for ninth all-time — and his first with any team besides the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
The pass from Purdy had a 22.5% chance of ending in a completion, per Next Gen Stats. But he put it in the air with 100% confidence Evans would come down with it. He had his reasons.
As left tackle Trent Williams put it, “He’s a jump ball extraordinaire.” (Moments before that, the future inductee in Canton, Ohio, gave Evans another moniker: “Hall of Fame Mike, man.”)
“Those 50-50 balls,” he said, “are not really 50-50.”
Indeed, there really is nobody doing the end zone fade like Evans. It hasn’t been a big part of Shanahan’s playbook in the past. Perhaps because he just never had the personnel.
“It was nice to have a type of receiver to throw a fade to him like that,” Shanahan said. “That was cool.”
Since 2018, Evans has 34 touchdown receptions on go/fade routes, according to Next Gen Stats. That’s seven more than the next-closest receiver, Davante Adams.
Even guarded close enough for the cornerback to make out the face of “The Chosen One” on the back of his left calf, with less than a yard of separation, Evans is a dependable target. Since 2022, he’s tied for the NFL lead with 10 TDs caught in tight windows, per ESPN Insights.
Purdy, Shanahan, offensive coordinator Klay Kubiak — they’ve never had a weapon like this.
Of the players who have accounted for the majority of Purdy’s targets since he became the starting QB in 2023, only George Kittle has the kind of physical traits that come close to Evans.
But Purdy has shown a proclivity for throwing to the few bigger bodies the 49ers have had.
Now, he seems to have immediately hit it off with Evans.
Purdy’s 135.4 passer rating the seven times he targeted Evans was his highest for any receiver besides Demarcus Robinson, who hauled in a 39-yard TD strike. The explosive play was set up by none other than Evans, who drew a safety into double coverage.
They connected for 49 yards on six completions, all for first downs. Purdy called his number on third down three times on their opening drive and moved the sticks each time.
He may be a newcomer to the 49ers’ system. But Evans has already proved essential, especially following the loss of rookie De’Zhaun Stribling and Christian Kirk’s uncertain status.
There was never any doubt about the impact Evans could make on the field for the 49ers once he signed a three-year, $42 million deal this offseason. The question was whether he would be able to stay on it, or if he would merely amount to another big name on the 49ers’ injury report.
Evans’ 11-year run of 1,000-yard seasons ended last season (in a tie with Jerry Rice for the longest all-time) when a hamstring and a broken collarbone forced him to miss nine games.
He sat out most of training camp, nursing ailments with his quad and hamstring.
Evans credited Kittle with laying it on the hardest in the free-agency process, but Purdy, he said, was a “big reason why I came here.” After developing a rapport throughout training camp and OTAs, it didn’t take long for them to put it on display once the games started count.
“Brock threw a great ball,” Evans said of the TD pass. “We got the coverage we wanted and we repped that a lot the last couple of weeks. I was happy that paid off and we were able to keep scoring after that.”
Evans, it seems, is hard-wired to want the ball in the situations that matter most. He can smell the sticks and starts to salivate when his team gets near the end zone.
We got a telling look inside the mindset that has helped Evans become one of the greatest receivers of his generation — and clearly still viable at age 33 and in his 13th season.
With the 49ers moving down the field on their opening drive of the second half, NFL cameras and microphones captured Evans’ message to a staff member on the bench.
“Third down in the red area,” he said, “I need a shot.”
Word apparently got back to Shanahan, who didn’t regret heeding the advice.
Surely, he’ll keep drawing up ways for Purdy to take advantage of their new, unique weapon.
