The 49ers have made an addition to their offensive backfield.
The agents for running back Jordan Mims announced that their client has agreed to a deal with the NFC West club. Mims appeared in one game for the Titans in 2025.
Mims initially signed with the Bills after going undrafted in 2023 and moved on to the Saints to make his regular season debut. He played two games as a rookie and 11 games the next season. He has 20 carries for 71 yards and 12 catches for 71 yards for his career.
Christian McCaffrey is the lead back for the 49ers. Jordan James, Isaac Guerendo, Patrick Taylor, Sincere McCormick, and third-round pick Kaelon Black are the other backs.
UPDATE 4:35 p.m. ET: The NFL’s daily transaction wire shows that the 49ers also signed running back Jermar Jefferson. They waived McCormick and placed defensive back Darrick Forrest on injured reserve.
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The Commanders have been seen as a landing spot for wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk since it became clear he would not be playing for the 49ers anymore, but Aiyuk remains on the roster for San Francisco.
Aiyuk has no guaranteed money left on his contract after the 49ers voided the remaining guarantees last year, so there’s no particular time pressure for the team to release him and the Commanders have not shown any willingness to give up assets to trade for him. One of the reasons the Commanders have been seen as a suitor is the presence of Aiyuk’s college teammate Jayden Daniels, but the quarterback said he doesn’t have any insight into how things will play out.
“I don’t know, I don’t have a sense on it,” Daniels said, via multiple reporters. “That is my brother and we have a personal relationship. His football future, that’s out of my control.”
Aiyuk has not played a game since Week 7 of the 2024 season and the absence of any sense of when things might be resolved with the 49ers makes it hard to expect to see him on the field for the Commanders or anyone else in the near future.
49ers tight end George Kittle suffered a torn Achilles in January during San Francisco’s postseason win over Philadelphia.
He’s trying hard to return in time for Week 1. But the 49ers’ season-opening trip to Australia to face the Rams on Thursday of that week (which will be Friday in Melbourne) adds a layer of complication.
In a recent interview with Front Office Sports, Kittle noted that playing in that matchup is his goal.
“I was told it’s not a crazy goal,” Kittle said, via David Bonilla of 49erswebzone.com. “And so, as long as I keep on the right path and everything goes the right way, hey, I got a chance.
“As a 15-hour flight and a game like four days before a normal opening day, that might make it a little bit difficult — sure, but who doesn’t like a challenge? So, no, I’ve got a chance, like I said, so just going to keep my head down, keep grinding every single day.”
Head coach Kyle Shanahan has been quite clear about his frustrations with starting 2026 so far from home. Kittle didn’t go nearly as far as Shanahan with his comments, but he did admit that he’d prefer to start 2026 stateside.
“At least, if we started the season off at home, and I didn’t have to hop on a plane for 15 hours, it might be different,” Kittle said. “But I think it just depends on how I’m feeling, if I’m cleared to go. If I’m cleared, hey, I’ll be there, and I’ll be on the field. And if they’re like, ‘Hey, it’s close,’ it’ll be a game-time decision. So, we’ll see.
“Everybody keeps telling me I won’t be back until Week 6, 7, or 8, and I’ll be like, ‘You guys believe whatever you want to believe.’ My goal is to be back there as early as possible.”
Kittle, 32, is entering his 10th pro season. He caught 57 passes for 628 yards with seven touchdowns in 11 games for San Francisco last year.
49ers quarterback Mac Jones is set to make a little more money in 2026.
According to multiple reports, Jones and the 49ers have agreed on a revised contract for the coming season. The reworked deal includes a $300,000 roster bonus for the backup to Brock Purdy.
Jones is now due to make $3.55 million in total compensation for the final year of his contract with the NFC West team. There are another $2.25 million in incentives available as well.
Jones started eight games for the 49ers while Purdy was sidelined with a toe injury during the 2025 season. The Niners would prefer to turn to him less often this year, but the team’s 5-3 record with Jones shows why they value having him on hand.
Wide receiver Mike Evans joined the 49ers as a free agent this offseason and the relationship he builds with quarterback Brock Purdy is going to be an essential part of the team’s offense in 2026.
Purdy shared some insight into that process on Wednesday. Purdy said that he has learned that Evans sees the field “like a quarterback does” and that their work has centered on working through the offense to make sure they are seeing the same things at the same times.
Evans’s insights into the game led him to great success in Tampa and Purdy acknowledged the burden that comes with making sure his time with the 49ers is going to be just as fruitful.
“He’s been awesome,” Purdy said, via NBC Sports Bay Area. “What he’s done in his career, he’s a Hall of Famer, thousand-yard seasons — really year after year, his whole career — he’s won a Super Bowl. Just being around him and in his presence and understanding what it’s going to take to play with him. And just like, honestly, like the good pressure that it brings. I have a guy that is demanding success and demanding to be great, and I love that. I want to play with guys like that.”
When he wasn’t talking specifically about Evans on Wednesday, Purdy said he thinks the 49ers have what it takes to win the Super Bowl this season. Building a bond with Evans that allows the wideout to thrive at his previous level would boost those hopes.
The 49ers have spent plenty of time in the playoffs during Kyle Shanahan’s time as their head coach, but four trips to the NFC title game and two trips to the Super Bowl have not ended with anyone in their uniform hoisting a Lombardi Trophy.
Last year’s trip to the playoffs ended with a divisional round loss to the Seahawks and quarterback Brock Purdy thinks the team is positioned to make another run at the title this year. During an appearance at the 2026 Dwight Clark Legacy Series event, Purdy expressed confidence that the team’s roster is capable of winning it all while also noting that a lot more goes into it than just having a lot of talent.
“You guys have seen it in years past. NFC championship, getting to the Super Bowl, being right there. How 2023 ended with that taste in our mouth and not being able to finish,” Purdy said, via NBCSports Bay Area. “Obviously, we have what it takes to go all the way and win it, that’s when we’re at full strength and good to go. But even though we are at full strength and full health, that’s not guaranteed. That’s the cool thing about the guys we have in the locker room and organization: No one just sits there and says, ‘Oh, look at our roster and how beautiful it looks.’” Guys are ready to go. When it’s said and done, we want to come back like all these guys and have rings on our fingers and celebrate those key wins and moments with the history of 49ers. That’s what’s on our mind, so we got to do it.”
The 49ers overcame a lot of injuries, including one to Purdy, in order to return to the postseason last year. That only serves to underscore the point that a lot has to fall into place in order for the team to survive their division, conference and league as a whole in 2026.
Sherman Lewis, whose long coaching career included 12 seasons as an NFL offensive coordinator, has died at the age of 83.
Lewis was an All-American halfback at Michigan State, and in 1963 he finished third in Heisman Trophy voting. He also won three Big Ten titles in track and field.
Although he was drafted by both the NFL and the AFL in 1964, he chose to begin his professional playing career in the CFL with the Toronto Argonauts. He would later play in the AFL for the Jets in 1966 and 1967, seeing most of his action as a punt and kickoff returner.
In 1969, after his playing career ended, Lewis returned to Michigan State to begin his coaching career. He was an assistant for the Spartans for 13 years before Bill Walsh hired him to work on the 49ers’ coaching staff in 1983. Lewis stayed in San Francisco for nine seasons.
In 1992, 49ers assistant Mike Holmgren was hired as head coach of the Packers, and Holmgren hired Lewis to be his offensive coordinator, a role Lewis filled for Holmgren’s entire tenure in Green Bay.
After eight years as the Packers’ offensive coordinator, Lewis spent two years as the Vikings’ offensive coordinator and two more years as the Lions’ offensive coordinator. His final season of coaching took place in Washington in 2009.
When 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan aired grievances at the annual NFL meetings in March about his team getting the short straw for a long trip to Australia to face the Rams — at (as Shanahan insists) the specific request of the Rams — Shanahan held out hope for a nugget of consideration when the 49ers return to the United States.
Shanahan wanted his team’s Week 2 game to happen on Monday night.
That isn’t happening for the 49ers. Instead, the Rams will get the extra day to adjust and recover after playing in Australia. They host the Giants on Monday night, September 21.
Only one of the two Australia teams could have gotten the extra day. Still, some will wonder whether Shanahan’s public gripes prompted a little twist of the knife by the league office. At times, the powers-that-be can have a very long memory — and they sometimes don’t react well to public complaints.
To his credit, Shanahan wasn’t bashful about speaking his truth. And if he thinks the decision to give the Rams and not the 49ers the extra day to get ready for Week 2 traces to his willingness to say when he thinks, Shanahan should say that, too.
We don’t know if Fernando Mendoza will be starting at quarterback for the Raiders in Week 1 of the regular season, but we do know who the Raiders will be playing in the first overall pick’s potential debut.
The NFL’s schedule reveal on Thursday night shows that the Raiders will host the Dolphins at 4:25 p.m. ET on Sunday, September 13. The game will be on Fox.
Mendoza will have to get the nod over Kirk Cousins in order to start for the Raiders. Offseason addition Malik Willis is expected to make his first appearance for the Dolphins. Both teams will definitely have head coaches making their offseason debut as Las Vegas hired Klint Kubiak in February and Miami hired Jeff Hafley in January.
Sunday will also feature a pair of divisional games in the late afternoon window. The Packers will visit the Vikings while the Commanders will be in Philadelphia to renew their acquaintance with the Eagles. The NFC North matchup will be on CBS while the NFC East clash will be broadcast by Fox.
The other late game on Sunday afternoon will see the Cardinals visiting the Chargers on CBS. Arizona could have Jacoby Brissett, Gardner Minshew or rookie Carson Beck at quarterback for that contest.
The 1 p.m. ET games will send the Bills to Houston for a date with the Texans while the Browns go on the road against the Jaguars. The Colts will host the Ravens, the Saints will visit the Lions, the Buccaneers will travel to Cincinnati for Dexter Lawrence’s first game as a Bengal, and the Steelers will kick off the Mike McCarthy era — with or without Aaron Rodgers — at home against the Falcons.
Previous reports revealed that the Jets will be in Tennessee and that the Bears will head to Charlotte to face the Panthers. The Jets-Titans game will be on CBS along with the Bills-Texans, Ravens-Colts and Browns-Jaguars games. All the other 1 p.m. games will be on Fox.
The entire Week 1 slate will kick off on Wednesday, September 9 with a Patriots-Seahawks Super Bowl rematch in Seattle on NBC. Thursday will bring a Netflix game between the 49ers and Rams in the NFL’s first game in Melbourne and Sunday night will find the Cowboys at MetLife Stadium to meet the Giants on NBC’s Sunday Night Football. Those games were all announced ahead of Thursday’s full schedule reveal, which was also the case for the ESPN Monday night game between the Broncos and Chiefs in Kansas City.
All of the international matchups for the 2026 NFL season were announced on Wednesday morning.
We already knew the first two games on the schedule. The 49ers and Rams will meet in the NFL’s first-ever game in Melbourne, Australia in Week 1 while the Ravens and Cowboys will head to Brazil to play a game in Rio in Week 3.
There will be three straight weeks of games in London kicking off the next week. The Colts will face the Commanders at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in Week 4 and the Eagles and Jaguars will square off in the same place the next week. The Jaguars will stay in London to take on the Texans at Wembley Stadium in Week 6.
From there, it will be on to Paris for the first time in league history. The Steelers will battle the Saints at Stade de France in Week 7.
The Bengals-Falcons matchup in Madrid in Week 9 was announced earlier this week and it will be followed by a Patriots-Lions clash at Allianz Arena in Munich the next weekend. The NFL’s return to Mexico City will come in Week 11 when the Vikings and the 49ers square off on Sunday Night Football.
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has talked about his desire to see the league play international games each week and the NFL is moving closer to that goal in 2026.
