Chris Godwin has spent nine seasons in the NFL, all of them with Mike Evans as his teammate. When Evans decided to leave in free agency for the 49ers, Godwin didn’t accept it.
“Honestly, I didn’t believe it,” Godwin told reporters on Tuesday, via Jenna Laine of ESPN. “I mean, there’s a bunch of stuff on the Internet that you can’t really believe, a lot of AI stuff. So I didn’t really believe it. And then I texted [quarterback Baker Mayfield]. I was like, ‘Yo, is this for real?’ And he was like, ‘Sad face [emoji].’”
Evans and Godwin are first and second in franchise history for catches, receiving yards, and receiving touchdowns. Now, Evans is gone.
“I think it’s part of the game, unfortunately,” Godwin said. “Mike is -- I mean, we all know what Mike has been to this community and this organization. That’s my brother and I wish him the best and his time in San Fran. I’m sure that they know what kind of player that they’re getting.
“I mean, obviously it’s going to be difficult that he’s not here. And I think anytime you’re missing Mike, that’s a tough situation. But fortunately we have a room full of guys that are ready to go.”
Evans, a first-round pick in 2014, left Tampa Bay with credentials that may already be good enough to get him into the Hall of Fame. In San Francisco, Evans gets an opportunity to win his second career Super Bowl.
Assuming the 49ers can compete with the Seahawks, who won Super Bowl LX, and the Rams, who are loading the cannon for a Super Bowl run of their own.
The 49ers signed safety Ashtyn Davis to a one-year deal, the team announced Tuesday.
In a corresponding move, the 49ers waived running back Jermar Jefferson.
Davis spent last season with the Dolphins, appearing in 15 games with 12 starts. He recorded 63 tackles, four passes defensed, one interception, one forced fumble and added two special teams tackles.
He entered the NFL as a third-round pick of the Jets in 2020 and spent five seasons in New York.
In his career, Davis has appeared in 84 games with 34 starts. He has totaled 217 tackles, 19 passes defensed, nine interceptions, five forced fumbles, four fumble recoveries and half a sack to go with 23 special teams tackles.
Jefferson signed with the 49ers on May 28.
They have to install playing surfaces that meet exacting standards. They have to change the names of the facilities. They have to shut down all other business (such as major concerts) for the duration of the World Cup.
Given the hoops through which the 11 NFL stadiums will have to jump in order to placate FIFA, it’s fair to ask whether it’s worth it.
Ben Volin of the Boston Globe recently took a look at that question. Said an NFL official from a team that won’t be hosting any of the World Cup games, “I know more than a few teams weren’t disappointed to lose the bid.”
That could be sour grapes, because those who won the right to host the matches are crowing about it.
“Can’t sleep,” Cowboys owner and G.M. Jerry Jones said recently, per Volin. “This is a great chance to associate with the worldwide love with soccer, and lets us put a little notch on our belt and share it with what soccer’s about, too. They’ll never be able to take away that we held those games in that stadium.”
Cowboys executive Stephen Jones echoed the sentiment: “We’ll be shut down all summer. But it’s worth it. I mean, this is about brand and, you know, being a part of something special.”
The Joneses wanted to host the matches badly enough to give up their suite for the matches.
“I think I’ve got to go someplace else, but that was a part of it,” Jerry Jones said. “We did a lot of things to make this work.”
The Cowboys, Patriots, Falcons, Texans, Chargers/Rams, Giants/Jets, Chiefs, Seahawks, 49ers, Dolphins, and Eagles will be hosting World Cup games in their stadiums.
The total revenue is projected, per Volin, to be roughly $11 billion. FIFA will pay rent for the stadiums, while keeping the revenue from sponsorships, tickets, suites, merchandise, concessions, and parking.
So how much will the teams get for hosting the World Cup? Per Volin, the terms “have been kept under wraps.”
Given that folks like Jones are not known for doing bad deals, they’ll surely be making more money to host the World Cup matches than they would have made in a normal summer.
Still, it’s a headache. Extra work, extra expenses, extra hassles.
Not to mention the P.R. bruise that comes from the perception/reality that NFL owners who are giving FIFA the surfaces it demands while stubbornly refusing to do the same for pro football players.
Osa Odighizuwa was drafted by the Cowboys in 2021. The defensive tackle re-signed with them in 2025 despite a higher offer from the Commanders as one of the top free agents.
All for the Cowboys to trade him to the 49ers this offseason.
His new team plays his old team this season, and Odighizuwa is very much looking forward to the meeting.
“It’s the game that you got a picture on the dartboard, and you’re throwing a knife at the picture,” Odighizuwa said recently on The Richard Sherman Podcast, via Calvin Watkins of the Dallas Morning News. “Now, I just take down the picture and I put up the other picture, and I’m on the other side of it, but the energy is exactly the same.”
Odighizuwa became expendable after the Cowboys traded for Kenny Clark and Quinnen Williams. The 49ers sent a third-round pick to Dallas for him.
“I’m definitely happy to be [with the 49ers],” Odighizuwa said. “It’s a great organization from top to bottom. I feel like it’s definitely just a winning mentality over here, so it’s definitely cool to be a part of that and go from one good organization to another one, and just being in a great space.”
Odighizuwa recorded 216 tackles, 81 quarterback hits, 34 tackles for loss and 17 sacks in his five seasons with the Cowboys. He expects more. He will make his return to AT&T Stadium on Nov. 15.
“For the past five years, I haven’t scratched the surface of the player that I am,” Odighizuwa said. “It hasn’t been put on full display, so I just plan on putting that on display.”
With the World Cup coming soon, multiple NFL stadiums have torn up their artificial turf and installed high-quality, FIFA-compliant grass pitches. Then, after the tournament ends, the grass will be removed and replaced with artificial turf again.
49ers defensive end Nick Bosa, whose team will play five 2026 games at stadiums that perform the turf to grass back to turf transformation, was asked about the decision to switch the surfaces at those venues to grass before putting the fake stuff back in.
“Yeah, it’s a little bizarre,” Bosa said, “but what can you expect?”
That says it all. It’s all about money. It’s cheaper to have turf for NFL games. And it’s expensive, but necessary, to install grass in order to make the extra money that comes from hosting World Cup games.
The 49ers will play this year at Seattle (Week 5), at Atlanta (Week 7), at Dallas (Week 10), at the Giants (Week 13), and at the Chargers (Week 15). All five stadiums will have grass for the summer before returning to artificial turf.
In 2020, Bosa suffered a torn ACL on artificial turf at MetLife Stadium. (He tore the ACL in the other knee on grass in 2025.) And while the fact that he has torn an ACL on each surface will prompt some to say there’s no difference, the difference between playing on grass and fake grass is obvious to anyone who does it — which is why 92 percent of players prefer grass.
