Why 49ers HC Kyle Shanahan is Surprised About Brock Purdy and Mike Evans' Connection

Interesting.

Oct 11, 2026; Seattle, Washington, USA; San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Mike Evans (5) celebrates after catching a two-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Brock Purdy (not pictured) against the Seattle Seahawks at Lumen Field. Mandatory Credit: Joe Nicholson-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

The San Francisco 49ers’ quarterback-wide receiver partnership of Brock Purdy and Mike Evans has taken the NFL by storm.

Five games into the season, FOX Sports reports Purdy has completed 24 of 34 passes targeting Evans this season for 406 yards, four touchdowns and no interceptions.

Purdy has a 149.9 passer rating when targeting Evans, the highest among the 55 QB-receiver duos with at least 25 attempts this season.

This prompted a question to the 49ers' head coach, Kyle Shanahan, about whether he's surprised by that instant success. He gave an interesting response.

“Yeah, a little bit. I mean, yes and no," he told reporters on Thursday.

"Mike has been so obviously that good to anybody who watches him and especially to me watching him over the years. He’s always been right there as the best and some people can match with him, but he’s just such a first-ballot Hall of Famer.

"To get him here, just things that we weren’t used to doing as much not having a guy like him. I remember always telling Brock and stuff like, ‘Hey, there’s times you’re just going to sit there and wait and Mike will get it done. You don’t need to progress even if your feet tell you to. If the coverage doesn’t go there, you just wait and give him time because he’ll come down with it.’

"I remember saying to him a ton like, ‘This can be really important that you two have a lot of one-on-one. You guys do that stuff a lot because that’s just about you guys talking to each other.’

Oct 11, 2026; Seattle, Washington, USA; San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy (13) acknowledges 49ers fans in the crowd after defeating the Seattle Seahawks at Lumen Field. Mandatory Credit: Joe Nicholson-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

"Each one’s going to be different. It’s not like coach talk and telling you, ‘Hey, it’s going to be at this yard line or this hitch.’ It’s stuff you guys have just got to get used to each other.

"I remember going up to Brock in the middle of Australia. I was like, ‘Hey, all that stuff I asked you to work with Mike, are you guys there yet? Are you good?’ I did that jokingly because I knew Mike hadn’t had any reps in like two weeks and Brock got all stressed. He’s like, ‘Well, I haven’t got to yet.’ And I was like, ‘I’m just joking, dude.’ I was like, like, ‘We’ve ran out of time. We’ll see how it goes this week.’

"That fade they threw in Australia that they scored on, I think we had done that full speed once live and that’s just a different drop and different stuff that we hadn’t done.

"So those guys didn’t get a ton of reps out of it, but it just shows how natural Mike is, how natural Brock is, and that it seems like they’ve been working on that stuff for a long time.”