Lynch: Evans (ribs) making every attempt to play

The 49ers’ star wide receiver is good to go for his team’s Week 5 game against a divisional rival. A hard hit to the midsection could change his day, but Evans is extremely tough and should be expected to handle his normal workload. He is a weekly WR2, operating as San Francisco’s passing game focal point.

For many NFL players, downgrading to a DNP on Thursday would be concerning. For Evans, this is business as usual unless the team says otherwise. The 49ers’ X-wide receiver regularly plays through injuries and does so effectively. We tentatively expect him to face the Seahawks in Week 5. He is a fantasy football WR2.

Evans played through his rib injury last week and was surprisingly productive, posting five catches for 76 yards. He led the 49ers in targets and yards. A limited session today is a good sign that the rib injury didn’t get any worse on Sunday. He should be good to go as a fantasy WR2 for his Week 5 matchup with the Seahawks.

Evans toughed it out through a painful rib injury. He endured a couple shots to the midsection in the first half and remained in the game, eventually leading the Niners in targets and receiving yards. Accounting for 31 percent of the team’s air yards coming into Week 4, Evans profiles as a high-upside WR2 in most formats. Evans and the rest of the 49ers have a tough Week 5 matchup against a Seahawks secondary that has smothered opposing passing offenses so far this season.

Evans will battle through his rib injury and suit up against Denver, though it remains to be seen whether the veteran will play a full complement of snaps. Through three games Evans has accounted for 22 percent of he 49ers’ targets and 30 percent of the team’s air yards. The Niners declared QB Kurtis Rourke, DE Nick Bosa, DT James Thompson Jr., RB Jordan James, LB Tatum Bethune, CB Ephesians Prysock, and OT Enrique Cruz Jr. inactive against the Broncos.

Evans is officially questionable to play. He did not practice on Wednesday and Thursday, but in uniform and did some running on the side in the early, open portion of Friday’s practice. The grizzled veteran tends to play through injuries. He will try to play this week while wearing a compression shirt with padding in it. Evans told reporters that he has played through a similar injury previously. If active, he carries obvious re-injury risk but warrants starting as a WR2.

49ers GM John Lynch said earlier today that Evans “will make every attempt” to play in Week 4 against the Broncos. The veteran receiver is no stranger to playing through injury. He attempted to do so last week with a hip injury, but taking a hit to the ribs knocked him out of the game. If active, he will be a WR2, albeit with re-injury risk.

On the plus side, 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan did not list Evans with the hip injury he dealt with last week, so that issue may already be behind him. Shanny also said he was “hopeful” Evans suits up against the Broncos. Evans is appears to be truly day to day, and frequently plays through injuries. He must still be considered questionable to play in Week 4. Stay tuned.

The season is only three weeks old, but it already feels like Evans has dealt with a whole year’s worth of injuries. The veteran receiver dealt with quad and abductor injuries in training camp and was listed with a hip injury entering Week 3’s game against the Cardinals. Now, he’ll look to play through a rib injury that had him carted off the field in the second quarter of Sunday’s win. It sounds like Evans will have a chance to suit up in Week 4 against the Broncos, but we’ll see how things look when the team releases its first injury report on Wednesday.

According to ESPN’s Nick Wagoner, “it was unclear exactly what happened to Evans.” He got hit hard in the sternum on a catch over the middle, but remained in the game for a few plays before needing help from the training staff to get off the field. Shanahan said the team couldn’t tell if Evans broke a rib or injured his oblique, but he believes those questions will be answered tomorrow, indicating Evans will likely undergo imaging. He entered the game with a hip injury. Wagoner adds that LT Trent Williams (stinger) and LB Dre Greenlaw’s (quad) injuries “seemed less severe” than Evans’ injury.