49ers Receive Sobering Injury Update on Mike Evans

Adjust your expectations accordingly.

IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Don't expect to see Mike Evans on the field any time soon.

He hasn't played since he hobbled off the field at Levi's Stadium with an Achilles injury on Oct. 19. He won't play today when the 49ers face the Las Vegas Raiders at home. And he's "questionable at best" to play next week when the 49ers face the Dallas Cowboys on the road, according to Mike Garafolo.

"He's dealing with some tendinitis," Garafolo said. "We know how painful that can be...He is improving. He is working his way back. But Christian McCaffrey dealt with this a couple years ago, so the 49ers know how painful and debilitating it can be."

It's interesting that Garafolo compared Mike Evans' injury to the tendinitis McCaffrey suffered two seasons ago. Granted, McCaffrey had bilateral Achilles tendinitis, meaning he had it in both legs. Evans has it in just one.

Still, Evans is 33. McCaffrey was 28 in 2024, and he missed the first eight games of the season, then he had a Week 9 bye week to help him get ready for his Week 10 season debut. That's how long it took him to get ready to play. He even had to fly to Germany to receive treatment that isn't available in the United States. And when he came back, he lasted only four games before he suffered a season-ending injury in his knee, which might have been a compensation injury that was related to his Achilles.

If the 49ers learned their lesson with McCaffrey, they should let Evans take as long as he needs to recover completely before letting him play again. If that means sitting him until Week 14 or 15 or later, so be it.

Because if he returns too soon and goes down again, the 49ers won't win the Super Bowl. But if he's 100 percent healthy when the playoffs start, they absolutely could win it all. He's that important.

Which means the next couple weeks or couple months could depend on Kyle Shanahan's ability to trust his young players on offense. We know he prefers playing guys in their 30s. We know he has no patience for young players when they make the smallest mistakes.

He has to find some patience. He has two terrific young weapons in Jordan Watkins and Kaelon Black. Use them. If Shanahan had trusted them and used them more two weeks ago, they would have beaten the Falcons. Instead, Shanahan overused McCaffrey on the first drive and he got injured. Then Shanahan kept calling plays for Christian Kirk and Brandon Cooks, both of whom are washed.

Now, the 49ers are coming off a bye week. Shanahan has had plenty of time to figure out how to move the ball and score points without Evans.

Let's see what Shanahan cooked up.