The San Francisco 49ers have used the offseason to retool this roster, but not all the moves have been raved about. The biggest mishaps came via the NFL Draft, where the players who were selected by San Francisco were off massively compared to the general consensus.
Lynch doubled down on his approach, but that certainly ruffled some feathers. Nonetheless, their biggest addition came via free agency. Mike Evans signed a three-year, $42.5 million deal with the Niners, and he's set to be the biggest difference-maker to join the team in 2026.
ESPN's Mike Clay, Aaron Schatz, and Seth Walder released a piece discussing various topics around all 32 teams in the league.
Regarding the 49ers, Walder listed Evans as the X-factor:
"He signed a below-market deal that made him a no-brainer addition for the 49ers. But it would be foolish to pretend there isn't risk. Evans will be 33 before the season starts, he played in only eight games in 2025, and his open score dropped to a below-average 46 (the scale goes from 0 to 99). He scored a 91 the prior season. If Evans isn't what the 49ers hope or expect, San Francisco will quickly become very reliant on Ricky Pearsall, Christian Kirk and/or second-round pick De'Zhaun Stribling."
Considering Evans was their biggest free-agent signing, and the draft class has serious question marks, this puts a ton of extra pressure on Lynch.
Mike Evans could put John Lynch under more pressure than ever in 2026
As Walder called out, Evans will be 33 years old when the year kicks off, and with him coming off an injury-plagued season, there are reasons to be concerned. When players get older, they don't usually get healthier.
Over his career with the Bucs, Evans has dealt with several hamstring injuries. Last year, he also had a broken collarbone and concussion that limited him to eight games. It doesn't help that there was a conspiracy about an electrical substation near San Francisco's training facility at Levi's Stadium that may have impacted players' health.
While there's no proof that it actually affected players, if Evans gets hurt, that will be a talking point. Regardless of that, the 49ers badly need Evans to be an impact player in 2026. Last year, Jauan Jennings led all Niners receivers in yards (643). That is nowhere near good enough, especially since running back Christian McCaffrey led the team in receiving yards with 924.
They need a true WR1 in the passing attack for Brock Purdy, and they believe Evans can be that guy.
But for Lynch's sake, he needs that to be true. Outside of the Evans move, there are plenty of questions around San Francisco's offseason.
If Evans isn't able to produce at the level that the 49ers need, the questions around Lynch will only get louder.
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