{"id":28854,"date":"2026-08-05T18:39:17","date_gmt":"2026-08-05T13:39:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=28854"},"modified":"2026-08-05T18:39:17","modified_gmt":"2026-08-05T13:39:17","slug":"49ers-wr-mike-evans-on-why-he-left-tampa-bay-buccaneers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=28854","title":{"rendered":"49ers WR Mike Evans on why he left Tampa Bay Buccaneers"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<p>Aug. 3, 2026, 3:22 p.m. PT<\/p>\n<div>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">Mike Evans left the only NFL home he&#8217;d ever known this offseason, ending a 12-year run with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to sign with the <a data-autotag=\"3d4aeb7f-6493-4c2a-8803-2439e4b64ee4\" href=\"https:\/\/sportsdata.usatoday.com\/football\/nfl\/teams\/san-francisco-49ers\/359\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-t-l=\":b|e|k|\u2691u\" class=\"gnt_ar_b_a\">San Francisco 49ers<\/a>. And while it may have been a surprise for many, Evans said the move came down to timing more than anything else.<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">&#8220;I just felt like it&#8217;s what I needed at this point in my career,&#8221; Evans said via KNBR. &#8220;Love Tampa. Been there my whole career, 12 seasons. Love the fan base, love the people in the front office, my teammates. But just felt like it was time for a change. This team is definitely&#8230; rejuvenated me and potentially added some years on my career.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">Evans, who turns 33 this month, said the 49ers&#8217; roster and infrastructure made the decision straightforward once he weighed his options. Brock Purdy at quarterback, a deep group of skill players, a defense built around Nick Bosa and Fred Warner, and Kyle Shanahan&#8217;s coaching staff all factored in.<\/p>\n<aside aria-label=\"advertisement\" class=\"gnt_x__c gnt_x__lbl gnt_x__al\"\/>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">&#8220;It was self-explanatory,&#8221; Evans said. &#8220;I mean, they had everything I was looking for. They checked all the boxes. Try to win now. Quarterback, great skilled players, great defense, great coaching staff, and then just great organization. And then a bonus is the weather that I didn&#8217;t even know about.&#8221;<\/p>\n<aside class=\"gnt_em gnt_em_vp gnt_em_vp__yt\" data-g-r=\"vp_tp\" data-c-vt=\"youtube\" aria-live=\"polite\" data-c-vpd=\"{&quot;vid&quot;:&quot;qPZK4M1UPL0&quot;,&quot;id&quot;:&quot;91153779007&quot;}\"><a class=\"gnt_em_vp_a gnt_em_vp__yt_a\" href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/qPZK4M1UPL0?si=AQ91uUf73YTeI2Yu&amp;t=45\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" data-g-r=\"vp_tg\" aria-label=\"Play YouTube video\" data-v-t=\"Why Mike Evans Chose The 49ers &amp; Why Kyle Shanahan is a Genius\"><img alt=\"\" class=\"gnt_em_vp_img gnt_em_vp_img__yn\" data-g-r=\"lazy\" data-gl-src=\"https:\/\/i.ytimg.com\/vi\/qPZK4M1UPL0\/maxresdefault.jpg\" onload=\"if(this.naturalWidth&lt;200){this.setAttribute('onload','this.classList.remove(\\'gnt_em_vp_img__yn\\')');this.src=\" https:=\"\" decoding=\"async\"\/><svg class=\"gnt_em_vp_svg\"><use xlink:href=\"#gnt_svg_video_play\"\/><\/svg><\/a><\/aside>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">San Francisco has come close to a championship repeatedly over the past several seasons without closing the deal, and Evans \u2014 who won a Super Bowl with Tampa Bay in 2020 \u2014 said <a href=\"http:\/\/ninerswire.usatoday.com\/story\/sports\/nfl\/niners\/2026\/03\/12\/mike-evans-one-piece-49ers-were-missing\/89122021007\/\" data-t-l=\":b|e|k|\u2691u\" class=\"gnt_ar_b_a\">he believes he can be the difference<\/a> this time around.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"gnt_ar_b_sp\">Expert NFL picks: <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-t-l=\":body nav (nfl)|e|auto spike click:6|\u2691u\" class=\"gnt_ar_b_sp_a\" href=\"https:\/\/sportsdata.usatoday.com\/football\/nfl\/picks\">Exclusive betting insights only at USA TODAY.<\/a><\/aside>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">&#8220;I hope I am,&#8221; Evans said about being the missing piece to the team. &#8220;And I&#8217;m grinding and I still feel really good. I still feel like I can definitely be that piece to help this team get over the hump.&#8221;<\/p>\n<aside aria-label=\"advertisement\" class=\"gnt_x__c gnt_x__lbl gnt_x__al\"\/>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">The 49ers now have Evans lined up alongside George Kittle, Christian McCaffrey, Deebo Samuel and Christian Kirk in one of the deepest skill-position groups in the league. For a team that&#8217;s made three trips to the NFC Championship game or beyond since 2019 without a Lombardi Trophy to show for it, adding a receiver of Evans&#8217; caliber \u2014 with 11 straight 1,000-yard seasons on his re\u0301sume\u0301 \u2014 is exactly the kind of swing San Francisco has been chasing.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Aug. 3, 2026, 3:22 p.m. PT Mike Evans left the only NFL home he&#8217;d ever known this offseason, ending a 12-year run with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to sign with the San Francisco 49ers. And while it may have been a surprise for many, Evans said the move came down to timing more than anything&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":28855,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/ninerswire.usatoday.com\/gcdn\/authoring\/authoring-images\/2026\/08\/03\/SRAM\/91153801007-20251221-t-183757-z-562064616-mt-1-usatoday-27864474-rtrmadp-3-nfltampabaybuccaneersatcarolinapanthers.JPG?crop=5057,2845,x0,y0&width=3200&height=1801&format=pjpg&auto=webp","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28854","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-real-trending-viral-news"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28854","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=28854"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28854\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/28855"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=28854"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=28854"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=28854"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}