Veteran receiver Mike Evans missed nine games last year due to injury. On Saturday, the coach of his new team was asked about the expectations for the 33-year-old receiver in his 13th season.
“Yeah, it depends if he stays healthy,” 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan told reporters about Evans. “Mike to me is always, if you’re a starting receiver, you’re out there a ton which everyone is. I forget what it was last year, maybe hamstring, where he missed time and when that happens you miss games.
“But Mike’s going to be a starting receiver here and we don’t like any of our guys to go every play. We want our guys going full speed and it’s hard to go full speed every play. So, we’re always going to spell guys. But hopefully, he’s got a little quad right now, which I know Mike probably believes he could be back right now. We’re being smart with him, but he’s going to be good to go.”
The hamstring has been an issue on multiple occasions in recent years. It didn’t interrupt Evans’s string of 11 straight 1,000-yard seasons, until last year.
The 49ers will need him to be on the field as much as possible, given that he’s their best option at the position.
Before they’ll have him on the field for games, they need him back at practice. He’s been gone for nearly a week.
