Make California Post a Preferred Source Keenan Allen might want to save Mike Evans a seat at his first 49ers receivers meeting. Six years ago, the two had a conversation about route running that feels like it deserves an in-person follow-up.
The Colts traded Allen to the 49ers on Tuesday, bringing the former Cal star back to the Bay Area and making him teammates with a man who once offered this assessment of where the two stood in the NFL’s receiving pecking order.
“I like the confidence but be realistic you not on my level bro,” Evans wrote.
That's right. Mike Evans firing back at Keenan Allen six years ago: "You not on my level bro." Great pull. https://t.co/J6KkD1mCl4
It was July 2020, and Allen, then with the Chargers, had seen about all he could take of the receiver rankings. So he went on Twitter and called out Tyreek Hill and Tampa Bay teammates Evans and Chris Godwin by name. Faster than him? Allen would give them that. Better at shaking a cornerback?
There was one small problem with Allen’s rebuttal, which Evans was kind enough to point out before getting to the matter of who was better.
“You tagged the wrong Chris Godwin lol,” Evans wrote.
It all figures to be water under the bridge by now, expecially with Evans and Allen joining forces to bring a Lombardi Trophy to the Bay Area.
And there isn’t a position room in football filled with more smack talk than the one the wide receivers reside in. So at the very least, the meetings could be far more entertaining.
But seriously, Allen ought to find a sympathetic audience and welcoming crowd in the Bay Area. He caught 205 passes for 2,570 yards and 17 touchdowns in three seasons at Cal, leaving as the school’s career receptions leader before the San Diego Chargers took him in the third round in 2013.
All he has done since then is earn six Pro Bowl nods and rack up the eighth most receptions in NFL history (1,095).
The chance to see Allen and Evans settle the argument on the same field might take a little longer. Evans missed Sunday’s game against the Raiders with Achilles tendinitis.
When he gets back, Brock Purdy gets a vote in this thing, too. And on third-and-8, you suspect the 49ers quarterback will be perfectly happy throwing to whichever guy gets open first.
