John Lynch and 49ers dodged a major bullet by not signing overpriced WR

A lot of NFL signings have been announced on Monday with the legal tampering window now open for free agency. The San Francisco 49ers were connected to free-agent wide receiver Alec Pierce, but he ended up re-signing with the Indianapolis Colts on a four-year $116 million deal.

At that price, the Niners dodged a massive bullet.

Pierce is a solid young receiver who is coming off a career-best year, but to commit that much money to him would have been a bit risky for San Francisco. His career-best season was only for 1,003 receiving yards and six touchdowns. He did have an impressive 21.3 yards per reception, which was the best mark in the NFL.

But Pierce is getting paid like one of the top receivers in the league, which he has not proven to be yet.

Instead, general manager John Lynch and the 49ers are going with proven experience by reportedly signing Mike Evans to a three-year, $60 million deal. Evans is older and injury-prone, but he has been one of the best receivers in the NFL for years now, so he brings that pedigree to a Niners offense that badly needed it.

49ers were wise to pass on Alec Pierce's price tag

Wide receiver was going to be a huge point of emphasis coming into the offseason no matter what. With Jauan Jennings and Kendrick Bourne set to be free agents, and Brandon Aiyuk soon to be released, San Francisco had to make some additions to the position.

It’s smart the 49ers went with experience in Evans over promise in Pierce. The Niners are still in the middle of their Super Bowl window, so they cannot afford to take risks on promising but ultimately uncertain commodities like Pierce. If he ends up being a bust, and San Francisco committed a ton of money to him, that could have slammed the window shut.

On the other hand, the 49ers know what they are getting in Evans. While Pierce has only eclipsed the 1,000-yard mark once in his young career, Evans has reached 1,000 yards in every year of his NFL career except for last season, which was only because he was injured. 

In short, the Niners are getting a more proven wide receiver for less money. They now have an elite threat for quarterback Brock Purdy and will enter the 2026 season with a solid top two receivers on the depth chart in Evans and Ricky Pearsall. Maybe they can add another solid player in the NFL Draft, too.

But for now, they just have to be happy that they did not overpay for Pierce like the Colts did and instead got Evans for an incredibly reasonable price.