The San Francisco 49ers are hopeful to get a handful of reinforcements back at practice next week. One of those players expected to return in the near future is Mike Evans, who missed Week 7 with multiple injuries. It didn’t make sense to play Evans on a short week with the bye coming up.
According to general manager John Lynch, “Mike’s been working tirelessly.” On KNBR, Lynch said, “He’ll continue to do that. He’s on a great plan, and I think the idea is you’ve just got to quiet that thing down.
We dealt with that with Christian [McCaffrey] last year — remember, he had that bilateral. We talked about that a lot, and fortunately, with Mike, it’s just on the one side.”
Lynch continued, saying, “he’s dealt with it some throughout his career, but it got to a point where it was really inhibiting his ability to play. At that point, you’ve got to take him out and try to quiet the thing down. Making good progress on that. We need to continue, and Mike will be tireless in his efforts to do that.”
Lynch wouldn’t commit to saying Evans would be back at practice next week. He did say, “Mike, he’s a pro. Mike’s going to attack that, and it’s hard for Mike to miss. He doesn’t like doing it, but he also understands the big picture: That we need him right, and we’ll make sure that he is before he returns.”
The 49ers face two subpar defenses in the Raiders and Vikings in Weeks 9 and 10, before the schedule turns into two to three playoff teams in the Vikings, Seahawks, and Giants. If you need to give Evans another week or two, then so be it. Ideally, it’s only one. You should be able to get by the Raiders without Evans. Dallas’s defense is lousy enough that maybe even the Cowboys, too—although you’ll need to score against that offense. But the Vikings present a unique challenge, and the Seahawks are the Seahawks.
We’ll see how patient the 49ers are with Evans, and if he misses any more time at all. They have to be smart and understand Evans was signed to do what he’s been doing all season, but that won’t matter if he’s not on the field come January.
