Mike Evans’s long run with the Buccaneers ended when he signed with the 49ers as a free agent last week and Bucs General Manager Jason Licht shared his thoughts on the wideout’s departure on Wednesday.
In terms of Tampa’s interest in having Evans return for a 13th season, Licht said, via Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times, that “we had a verbal agreement that [Evans] could be here as long as he wants.” Licht said he felt the Bucs “did everything we could” before the wideout opted to sign with the Niners.
Licht added that there were no hard feelings about Evans deciding to move on and that he is “happy for Mike and happy he found a place he wants to be.”
“I don’t feel betrayed,” Licht said. “He earned the right to make the decision . . . he loves this team. He loves everything about it . . . I think he wanted a new challenge.”
Licht selected Emeka Egbuka in the first round of last year’s draft, so the Bucs were planning for the future of the wide receiver group while Evans was still in the building. Egbuka, Chris Godwin and Jalen McMillan will now make up the top of the team’s receiver group while Evans tries to find the same kind of success with his new club.
The 49ers have officially brought back one of their key defensive contributors from 2025.
San Francisco announced on Wednesday that Sam Okuayinonu has signed his restricted free agent tender, putting him under contract with the club for one year.
Okuayinonu received the right of first refusal tender, which means he will make $3.546 million in 2026.
Okuayinonu, 27, joined the 49ers in the 2023 postseason when he was signed to the club’s practice squad. He was previously with the Titans as an undrafted free agent, joining the league in 2022.
In 2024, Okuayinonu appeared in 16 games with three starts for the 49ers. He played 15 games with 12 starts for San Francisco in 2025.
Okuayinonu has tallied 6.5 career sacks with 85 total tackles, 12 tackles for loss, and 15 QB hits.
San Francisco also announced the previously reported signings of receiver Christian Kirk and punter Corliss Waitman.
Before Mike Evans picked his next team, multiple reports suggested that he was being offered $27 million per year, or more. If that’s the case, Evans took a major discount to play for the 49ers.
Yes, it was widely characterized by the usual suspects as a three-year, $60.4 million deal. The truth, as it often does, paints a different picture.
Here are the full deals, per a source with knowledge of the terms:
1. Signing bonus: $12 million.
2. 2026 base salary: $1.3 million, fully guaranteed.
3. 2026 workout bonus: $150,000, fully guaranteed but must be earned.
4. 2026 per-game active roster bonus: $850,000, fully guaranteed but must be earned.
5. 2027 option bonus: $12.5 million.
6. 2027 base salary: $1.5 million, guaranteed for injury at signing.
7. 2027 workout bonus: $150,000.
8. 2027 per-game active roster bonus: $850,000.
9. 2028 option bonus: $10.95 million.
10. 2028 base salary: $1.7 million.
11. 2028 workout bonus: $150,000.
12. 2028 per-game active roster bonus: $850,000.
It works out to a base package of $42.5 million. The APY is $14.167 million. That puts him near the bottom of the top 30 among receivers.
Could he have gotten more elsewhere? Maybe. He seemed to be determined to play for the 49ers, even with the 13.3-percent California tax rate. (In Florida, it’s zero.)
We’re still trying to get the details of the incentive/escalator package that supposedly makes the $42.5 million deal worth “up to” $60.4 million. For now, those details remain as elusive as the basic contract details had been, for more than a week after the agreement was reached.
The Raiders signed offensive guard Spencer Burford on Tuesday, the team announced.
The unrestricted free agent took visits to the Chargers and Raiders this week.
Burford, 25, spent his first four seasons with the 49ers after they made him a fourth-round pick. He started 29 games in his first two seasons.
Burford was a backup in 2024 but started 11 games in 2025, including both of the 49ers’ playoff games.
He has played mostly right guard but has experience at left guard.
Burford has 2,162 offensive snaps and 273 on special teams.
The Seahawks will open the season on Wednesday, Sept. 9, rather than on the first Thursday of the season as is usual, Joe Flint of the Wall Street Journal reports.
It has been known for more than a month that the Super Bowl LX champions might start on Wednesday, with the NFL also playing a Week 1 game in Australia. The Rams and 49ers will play in Melbourne to open the season. The Seahawks’ opponent is not yet known, with the NFL to release the schedule in May.
But it was uncertain which game would take place on which day.
The Seahawks’ game, which NBC will televise at 8:20 p.m. ET, will mark only the second time in 75 years that the NFL has opened its season with a Wednesday game. The Cowboys and Giants played on a Wednesday in 2012 to avoid a conflict with Barack Obama’s acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention.
The Wednesday night game will create a conflict in Seattle, with the Mariners and Sounders also scheduled to play that night. The Major League Baseball team and the Major League Soccer are expected to reschedule their games.
The Seahawks will play the Cardinals, Cowboys, Giants, Bears, Chiefs, Chargers or Patriots in the season opener.
The NFL is unable to play a game on Friday in Week 1 this season. Under the Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961, the NFL is banned from televising games on Friday night or Saturday from the second weekend in September through the second weekend in December. The way Labor Day fell in 2024 and 2025, the league was able to play games on the Friday of opening weekend.
