Two years ago, the NFL seized on a quirk in the calendar that allowed the league to televise a Friday night game, Friday Night Lights be damned. With Friday a Week 1 option only when it’s the first Friday in September, the league can’t do it in 2026, when Week 1 coincides with the second full weekend of the month.
Enter Wednesday-Thursday.
The NFL has announced that, this year, the Seahawks will host the opening game on Wednesday, September 9, with the 49ers and the Rams playing on Thursday, September 10 in Australia.
That’s likely the new formula, for the years when Thursday-Friday doesn’t work because of the league’s broadcast antitrust exemption.
Wednesday-Thursday will be the likely plan in 2027 and 2028, with the Super Bowl champion hosting the Wednesday game and an international contest happening on Thursday. In 2029, Friday will be in play. Ditto for 2030, 2031, 2032, and 2033.
Of course, none of that matters if/when the league expands to 18 games and two byes. At that point, Week 1 likely would be moved to Labor Day weekend, which the NFL abandoned after 2001.
Here’s the other catch. If the current approach continues, with no NFL football on Labor Day weekend, the league’s effort to find more ways to cram cheese into the pizza would entail not a Thursday-Friday two-pack of games but a Wednesday-Thursday-Friday trifecta.
49ers Clips
The NFL announced the date and time for Australia’s first regular-season game.
The Rams will face the 49ers on Friday, Sept. 11, at approximately 10:35 a.m. AEST at the iconic Melbourne Cricket Ground. The game will air live on Thursday, Sept. 10 at 8:35 p.m. ET/5:35 p.m. PT.
The network that will air the game is yet to be announced.
“We are thrilled to kick off our season in Melbourne, enhancing an already historic moment for both the NFL and the Rams,” Rams Head of International Stephanie Cheng said. “Every time members of our organization visit, including earlier this month, we see first hand the growing excitement from folks across Melbourne in anticipation of this game. Not only will it be special playing the 49ers on a Friday morning in Australia, it also will be great for our fans back at home to be able to watch this matchup in primetime on Thursday night.”
Final preparations are under way for tickets to go on sale for the game. Qualifying Rams’ season-ticket members will have access to an exclusive presale beginning on Wednesday, April 1, at 2 p.m. PT.
Hospitality packages will be available to purchase from Ticketmaster starting Monday, April 6, at 5 p.m. PT, and general access tickets will go on sale to the public starting Tuesday, April 7, at 5 p.m. PT. All tickets and hospitality packages will be available to purchase directly from the Ticketmaster website.
“We are thrilled to be able to confirm the time and date for Australia’s first-ever regular-season NFL game at the MCG between the Rams and 49ers — a match-up that has created plenty of hype and excitement,” NFL Australia & New Zealand General Manager Charlotte Offord said. “We know that there is already plenty of appetite for this game, both in Australia and internationally, and we’re looking forward to getting tickets on sale in the coming weeks for what we know is going to be an incredible NFL experience for our fans down under.”
Offensive lineman Ben Bartch visited the Lions earlier this month and he’ll be spending more time in Detroit in the future.
The Lions announced that they have signed Bartch on Wednesday. The team did not share any details about the terms of the deal, which was initially reported by Eric Branch of the San Francisco Chronicle.
Bartch entered the league as a Jaguars fourth-round pick in 2020 and played 41 games for the team before the 49ers signed him off their practice squad in 2023. He appeared in 14 regular season games and three postseason contests during his time with San Francisco.
The Lions have also added Cade Mays, Larry Borom, and Juice Scruggs to their offensive line this offseason. They help balance out the departures of starters Taylor Decker and Graham Glasgow since the end of the 2025 season.
The 49ers and left tackle Trent Williams have not been able to solve their contract impasse, but head coach Kyle Shanahan remains confident that Williams will be on the team’s offensive line come the fall.
Williams is set to have a cap number of nearly $47 million after the 49ers declined to exercise a $10 million roster bonus late last week. Revising his contract would lower that cap hit and would likely result in Williams having some guaranteed money added to a deal that currently doesn’t have any of it, but conversations with General Manager John Lynch have not generated any results at this point.
The lack of progress doesn’t appear to be alarming to Shanahan, however.
“No updates from me,” Shanahan said, via Jennifer Lee Chan of NBCSportsBayArea.com. “I actually stay pretty much out of that. I know John and everyone is working hard to do that. I believe we will get that done. We love Trent too much and eventually that will work out.”
There’s been talk about the 49ers trading or releasing Williams if they can’t sort out the contractual issues, which would leave Shanahan with a major hole to fill on the offensive line. That prospect provides plenty of motivation for the team to find common ground with the three-time All-Pro, but it remains unclear when that might happen.
Free agent offensive guard Robert Jones is signing with the 49ers, NFL Media reports.
Jones, 27, signed a one-year, $2 million deal with the Cowboys last offseason but did not play a down. He broke a bone in his neck during a training camp practice in July and spent the season on injured reserve.
He visited the 49ers earlier Monday.
Jones, an undrafted free agent in 2021, spent four seasons with the Dolphins. He played 49 games, starting 30, including all 17 at left guard in 2024.
He played 1,078 snaps in 2024 and has 2,025 in his career.
The 49ers met with a possible addition to their offensive line.
The NFL’s daily transaction report for Monday shows that Robert Jones came in for a visit with the team.
Jones signed with the Dolphins after going undrafted out of Middle Tennessee State in 2021. He started 13 of the 30 games he played in his first two seasons and then started every game at left guard for Miami in 2024.
The Cowboys signed Jones last year, but he missed the entire season with a neck injury.
The 49ers saw one starting guard move on in free agency when Spencer Burford signed with the Raiders, but Dominick Puni remains under contract with the NFC West team.
The Pro Football Hall of Fame will honor three former assistant coaches with the Awards of Excellence. The Hall announced Monday that Mike Westhoff, Bobb McKittrick and Ted Cottrell will make up the Class of 2026.
This is the fifth class for the Awards of Excellence, with 17 assistant coaches honored in that time.
Westhoff coached in the NFL for 33 seasons, the majority of his career spent as the special teams coach of the Dolphins and Jets.
McKittrick spent 21 seasons as the offensive line coach for the 49ers and is one of four coaches who was with the team for all five of the franchise’s Super Bowl titles. Bill Walsh hired McKittrick in 1979.
Cottrell worked for six franchises over 24 seasons and is viewed as an innovator of the 3-4 defense. He helped develop several Hall of Famers, including Bruce Smith with the Bills.
The Hall previously announced winners in three other categories with Scott Berchtold, Jim Gallagher and Lee Remmel picked as public relations directors; Red Batty; Mike Davidson and Jack Noel as equipment managers; and Edward “Abe” Abramoski, Kent Falb and Michael Ryan in the athletic trainers category.
The Hall will announce winners in film and video directors category.
The ceremony honoring the Awards of Excellence winners will take place June 24-25 in Canton.
The 49ers and left tackle Trent Williams have not come to agreement on a new contract and his cap number for the 2026 season is now reportedly due to get even bigger.
Adam Schefter of ESPN reports that the 49ers will not exercise the $10 million option bonus in Williams’s contract ahead of Friday afternoon’s deadline. Passing on the option would push Williams’s cap number to nearly $47 million for the 2026 season.
Passing on the bonus leaves Williams with no guaranteed money in the final year of his current deal with the Niners. His base salary is set to be $22.21 million and the terms of the contract will likely look different if Williams is in a 49ers uniform come the fall.
Talks about a revised contract for Williams have not borne any fruit thus far. The inability to get something done has led to questions about whether the 49ers could cut or trade Williams before the 2026 season, but per Schefter’s report, they are still planning to work something out that results in Williams remaining with the club ahead of April’s draft.
Earlier this week, we broke down the details of the new Mike Evans contract, which pays a base value of $42.5 million over three years, with the first year ($14.3 million) fully guaranteed.
The contract does indeed include an incentives and escalators package that puts the total possible compensation above $20 million per year.
He can get up to $6 million per year under a formula that applies to 2026, 2027, and 2028.
Evans activates a 2027 escalator in four different $1.5 million increments based on the 2026 season. Evans gets $1.5 million if the 49ers make the playoffs and if he finishes in the top 10 in receptions. He gets $1.5 million if the 49ers make the playoffs and if he finishes in the top 10 in yards. He gets $1.5 million if the 49ers make the playoffs and if he finishes in the top 10 in receiving touchdowns.
The final $1.5 million comes from 2026 playoff success. He gets $500,000 per postseason win, if he played at least 75 percent of the snaps in the regular season and the playoffs, with a maximum of $1.5 million.
The same escalators apply to 2028, based on 2027 performance. Up to $6 million more can be paid out in the form of 2028 incentives, based on the same formula.
In 12 seasons, Evans has finished in the top 10 in receptions once. He finished in the top 10 in receiving yardage three times. He finished in the top 10 in receiving touchdowns seven times.
The Buccaneers wanted Mike Evans to return, hoping he would finish his career with the team. The wide receiver, though, was looking for a “new challenge,” according to Bucs General Manager Jason Licht.
Reports before Evans decided on his future indicated he was being offered $27 million per year. He signed a three-year, $42.5 million deal with the 49ers.
Licht said Wednesday that the Bucs offered more than the 49ers paid Evans.
“He means everything to me,” Licht said, via Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times, “but he means everything to the entire organization. Obviously, he’s the best offensive player we’ve ever had and an even better person than he is a player. So, it’s always tough. That one was really tough. . . . We made a significantly higher offer, and that was just the first offer.
“It became pretty clear that he and his family were just ready, like he said publicly, for another chapter. And ideally, of course, you’d want him to be a one-helmet player. But if you look back, there are several of those great players in that category. Dan Marino comes to mind, because I was there. You know, Barry Sanders and all of those. But then for everyone you name, there’s Jerry Rice, Peyton Manning, Joe Montana, Tom Brady that just at some point wanted another chapter. [Evans had] already established himself as the best player we’ve ever had on offense and 11 straight years with 1,000 yards, setting records. He won a Super Bowl. In my conversations with him, you know, we got emotional.”
Evans was frustrated by how last season ended without a playoff berth, Licht acknowledged, but the Bucs’ crowded receivers room played a bigger role in his departure. With Emeka Egbuka, Chris Godwin, Jalen McMillan and Tez Johnson in Tampa, Evans would have had to share targets. In San Francisco, he is the clear No. 1 wideout.
“We all know [Evans is] not a selfish guy,” Licht said. “He loves his receiver room so much; he talked about it often how this is just going to give more opportunity for them all. You know, Chris, obviously, J-Mac, Emeka and Tez. He made some solid points. I wasn’t saying, ‘You’re right; go ahead.’ But I just think there’s such affection for those guys. I think that did weigh into it a little bit.”
In 2025, Evans failed to reach 1,000 yards for the first time in his career. He missed nine games with hamstring injuries and a broken collarbone and caught a career-low 30 passes for 368 yards and three touchdowns.
He leaves Tampa with 866 receptions for 13,052 yards and 108 touchdowns, earning a spot in the team’s Ring of Honor once his Hall-of-Fame-worthy career ends.
“Mike gave us everything he had for his 12 seasons here and established himself as one of the best players in the league,” Licht said. “So, to say it again, he’s one of our best players we’ve ever had.
“I don’t feel betrayed. He earned the right. . . . Sometimes you think you’re just ready for another chapter. I think you’d have to ask the Patriots if they felt betrayed by Tom, the Colts for Peyton Manning. I mean, that was maybe a little different, but I don’t feel betrayed. I feel like we did everything we could. I had a lot of talks with Mike about that. I think he made a family decision. I think it was, you know, for them to have a new chapter. San Francisco is a very good team, so I don’t want to criticize his decision right now.”
