The Hidden Risk the San Francisco 49ers Signing Mike Evans Creates

Mike Evans has a strong case for the Hall of Fame, so the San Francisco 49ers' signing him was initially met with a lot of praise and excitement. However, there is still a hidden risk that is presented with the signing.

Mike Evans' signing with the San Francisco 49ers comes with risk

This is not the prime version of Evans who is coming to San Francisco. In fact, this is the opposite of that; this is a player who is coming off the worst season of his career. It is easy to say that there were injuries involved, and the offense started to struggle overall.

However, the reality is that Evans is going to be 33 years old in August, he is coming off the worst season of his career, and he has two straight seasons with injuries that held him out for multiple games, something that very rarely happens with Evans.

Most receivers do not come back from down years that are injury-infested at that age. In fact, none of the past 10 receivers to post 1,000 yards at age 33 or older had fewer than 700 yards in the season prior to that. Only three players had fewer than 1,000 yards.

If players are going to produce at that age in the NFL, they are going to have consistency, and once it falls off, even for one year, it does not come back.

You have to go back to 2007 to find the last time a receiver posted 1,000 yards or more after posting less than 500 yards in his age 32 season. Bobby Engram had 290 yards for the Seattle Seahawks in 2006 at the age of 33 and then had 1,147 yards at age 34. No one else in the past 20 years has come back at that age.

The 49ers were a bit prepared for this, as they built in incentives that can give Evans a reason to produce like his old days. Still, there is a chance that he does not hit them, and they still do not get the bang for their buck.

It is one thing to know that they are not signing Evans at his best, but are they going to get a washed-up version of Evans? Will this be a scenario where we remember Evans was even on the team after a few years? The signing is fun, but risky.