SANTA CLARA, Calif. -- Quarterback Brock Purdy was in the middle of an early March workout at tight end George Kittle's Nashville, Tennessee, gym when the news landed: The San Francisco 49ers had made a big splash in free agency, signing star receiver Mike Evans to a three-year contract.
As Purdy absorbed the information and looked around, he noted the signed Evans jersey hanging on Kittle's wall. He credited Kittle for his recruiting efforts in bringing Evans, a potential future Hall of Famer, to San Francisco.
"I was like, 'You've got to be kidding me,'" Purdy said. "What he's done in his career, the thousand yards for a season thing, just the quarterbacks that he's played with, for me to be able to now throw to him, it's an honor."
A depleted receiver room desperately needed Evans, whose streak of 11 consecutive 1,000-yard receiving seasons ended last year. But this addition carried more than on-field production.
It was a sign the Niners are back into win-now mode one year after undergoing a roster reset. An unexpected 12-5 season (after missing the playoffs in 2024) might have rekindled the want to make another championship push with an aging but star-laden core. Still, the difficulty of the NFC West division and a lack of proven young stars ready to form the team's next nucleus leave plenty of questions as San Francisco enters training camp.
There are reasons for the Niners to be optimistic. In addition to Evans, the team signed veteran wideout Christian Kirk, traded for defensive tackle Osa Odighizuwa and reunited with linebacker Dre Greenlaw. They also spent many of their picks on more experienced rookies with an average age of more than 23 years old.
None of it feels like a coincidence for a team that went from having little idea how last season would play out to nearly claiming the NFC's No. 1 seed in Week 18 and winning a road playoff game 23-19 in Philadelphia.
"It says that this group is ready to win, that's what it does," Niners tackle Colton McKivitz said. "We didn't know last year what this team was going to do. There wasn't a whole lot of playoff talk, Super Bowl talk, whatever it was. It was just, are you going to get better each week and win each week? When that's eventually what we got, that was a reward for that 12-win season... I think we're ahead of the curve."
Mike Evans (#5) enters his first season with the 49ers. Matthew Huang/Icon Sportswire THE NINERS FINISHED the 2024 season 6-11, and it left such a sour taste in the mouth of star tackle Trent Williams that it gave him pause when assessing his future.