The San Francisco 49ers made one of the more exciting moves of the offseason so far by adding Mike Evans to the wide receiver room on a very reasonable three-year deal.
They needed wide receiver help badly, and this pickup is a good one for a 49ers team set to lose Brandon Aiyuk and Jauan Jennings this offseason. But there is some reason for concern.
ESPN's Ben Solak expressed some concern about Evans joining a 49ers team that's been injury-prone in recent years. Amid such concerns, Solak, tongue-in-cheek, brought up the electrical substation conspiracy as a reason to worry about Evans coming to San Francisco.
ESPN analyst concerned for Mike Evans joining injury-prone 49ers
"I promised myself I wouldn't do electrical substation bits," Solak writes. "I don't want to encourage ridiculous theories. But when a 32-year-old receiver with bad hamstrings leaves the team he thought he'd play for until he retired to join the most injury-prone team in football ... well, I'm not a tall man. I can't say no to low-hanging fruit."
Evans is joining the 49ers, a team that has dealt with a hard-to-believe amount of injuries in recent years. Coming off a year in which he played just nine games and failed to reach 1,000 yards for the first time in his career, it's no wonder there's some concern.
In a vacuum, the 49ers' adding Evans is a fantastic move. Solak even notes that "I still think the fit is tremendous."
But injuries are a real concern, and for a team seemingly cursed with bad injury luck, a 32-year-old WR who's dealt with some injury concerns in his career joining the team does lead to some concern.
But the $60.3 million addition of Evans for the next three years, with an out after the first year due to $16.3 million in guarantees, is a great addition for the 49ers. But Solak's concern is something to keep in mind.
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George Kittle, Nick Bosa, Fred Warner, and Mykel Williams sustained serious injuries this past season. Ricky Pearsall, Brock Purdy, and others also missed time due to various injuries as well.
An older player like Evans, who's dealt with some injury issues, coming to San Francisco has made the electrical substation conspiracy pop back up.
Solak's concern isn't actually real, but it is something to monitor with how the 49ers have been dealing with so many injury issues in recent years.
Evans should be fine, and the electrical substation shouldn't actually have an impact. But, with how rampant the conspiracies were last year, it's something that will continue to be brought back up every time a player sustains an injury, regardless of the severity.
49ers fans shouldn't be worried about that conspiracy, and instead, they should be ecstatic that they were able to land one of the best receivers available this offseason on a very reasonable contract.
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