Mike Evans has been a doubt for the 49ers’ Week 4 game with the Denver Broncos since leaving the field in tremendous pain in last Sunday’s win over the Arizona Cardinals.
But the veteran wide receiver will be on the field at Levi’s Stadium as the Niners face arguably their toughest test of the season so far.
Fox Sports’ Jay Glazer reported before the early slate of games that Evans will start for San Francisco despite a rib injury, though he is taking a precaution to allow him to do so.
Evans will wear
a protective covering over the injured area to minimize the risk of further injury.
The decision is excellent news for quarterback Brock Purdy, who has quickly developed a superb rapport with the future Hall of Famer.
Had Evans not played, the 49ers’ receiver depth chart would have looked ill-equipped for the challenge of facing the vaunted Denver defense, given Christian Kirk, Demarcus Robinson and De’Zhaun Stribling are all unavailable.
Still, Evans’ presence in the game represents a risk for him and San Francisco, which cannot afford their top wideout to suffer a multi-week injury given the issues they already have at the position.
With Evans not 100 percent healthy, the likes of Deebo Samuel and Jordan Watkins — who impressed against Arizona last week — may see more targets. Brandin Cooks was elevated from the practice squad for this game and, while they are physically very different receivers, Cooks could be asked to take some of the burden off Evans in terms of attacking the Broncos downfield.
