Mike Evans (groin) not practicing Tuesday

In his projected depth chart, Barrows lists Stribling as both the starting slot receiver and the No. 2 X-receiver. He does not place Stribling on the Z-receiver depth chart, which could mean the rookie wide receiver has not yet earned a role in two-wide receiver sets. Veteran WR Deebo Samuel is the starting Z-receiver, though Barrows already reported that Samuel will take only “a portion” of the overall Z-receiver snaps. It would be surprising to see Nos. 2-3 Z-receivers, Jordan Watkins and Jacob Cowing, play ahead of Stribling when Samuel needs a breather, but the season is long and Stribling can always change Barrows’ mind. Early in the year, Stribling is likely best treated as a WR4/FLEX candidate. Were Evans to miss time, Stribling would seemingly slide into a full-time starting role.

Evans missed the bulk of training camp with quad, groin, and abductor injuries. The team took a cautious approach to his practice regimen during the offseason, and it seems to have paid off with him back on the field today. Evans’ status on the 49ers’ practice report next week will be one of the bigger storylines for the 49ers, but all signs point to him being healthy for Week 1. Fantasy managers can keep drafting him as a low-end WR2 for the final week of the summer.

Evans’ Week 1 status is starting to look iffy after missing most of the past few weeks with various injuries. Entering his age-33 season, Evans will need to log at least a couple practices next week if he’s going to suit up against the Rams in the season opener. Niners head coach Kyle Shanahan said Evans is “ahead of schedule doing good. But we know with Mike and where he is at in his career, we’ll definitely have to treat him differently.” An Evans absence would be a marked boost for De’Zhaun Stribling and perhaps Deebo Samuel. Evans will be a name to watch in the coming days.

Evans has been dealing with a myriad of injuries throughout training camp, the latest being a groin issue. The injuries have been reported as minor as the 33-year-old manages his way through practices after having missed significant time due to injuries the last couple seasons. He was already expected to miss minimal time - if any - and Fowler confirms that Evans and the 49ers are still preparing for him to play Week 1.

It would be really nice to see Evans consistently practice in full at this point, but both Inman and ESPN’s Nick Wagoner appear mostly unconcerned by today’s development. Per Wagoner, Evans stopped practicing after running a deep route on Sunday. Evans “seemed to be moving fine” after exiting. Wagoner adds that it is “clear he and the Niners want to be cautious to get him to the regular season ready to go.” Evans’ soft tissue concerns remain present, but as long as he takes the field on game day, he is a WR2 with WR1 upside.

Evans picked up a quad strain on August 3rd. He resumed practicing on August 11th and continued doing so until the 18th, when he left the 49ers’ joint practice with the Chargers early and was later seen icing his quad. This was just a cautionary move, per Maiocco, and Evans was able to do some pre-game running before the 49ers’ Thursday night preseason game against the Chargers two days later. Maiocco adds that he doesn’t expect Evans “to do much practicing” between now and Week 1, but he seems confident in his position that Evans will be good to go for the season opener. Evans, 33, has a history of soft tissue strains. When healthy, he is a WR2 with WR1 upside.

He was limited to individual work, but it’s a good sign that Evans is back on the field at all. It does seem like his quad injury isn’t much to worry about and that he can be drafted with that in mind.

Given the way injuries have piled up for the 49ers during their first week of camp, this is pretty good news. Evans, 32, could miss a few days due to his injury, but the veteran receiver isn’t expected to miss any significant time. Evans was having a strong first few days of camp before his injury and should be firmly in the conversation as a WR2 for fantasy this season.

The injuries continue to mount for the 49ers early in camp. Evans is reportedly dealing with a quad strain that we will hopefully learn more about later, and rookie De’Zhaun Stribling (hamstring) and Kaelon Black (adductor) are also missing Monday’s practice due to injuries. The recent string of injuries now makes for four receivers the Niners have seen go down in camp, with Christian Kirk (calf) and Ricky Pearsall (knee) both being injured last week. We will check back in when we receive updates on the status of these players.

Kittle described Evans as being “the first legit veteran wide receiver [he’s] had on [the] roster since Emmanuel Sanders in 2019,” adding that Evans “takes ball seriously.” The 49ers’ wide receiver corps has had its distractions over the past few seasons, but it appears as though Evans has been a stabilizing presence for the offense. Teammates told The Athletic’s Matt Barrows that “Evans’ length and route-running ability have already been evident,” and Evans has played very well in red zone drills. Evans adds that his change of scenery, from Tampa Bay to San Francisco, has him feeling “rejuvenated.” If his health can hold up, Evans could find himself in the fantasy WR2 tier with touchdown-based upside.