Mike Evans Could Climb NFL History With the 49ers

One of the more underrated storylines from the upcoming 2026 season is that the San Francisco 49ers can watch Mike Evans climb the all-time receiving leaders chart. Mike Evans is currently 21st all-time in receiving yards, and the only active player ahead of him is DeAndre Hopkins. Hopkins is unsigned and may not record many more yards in his career. How high can Evans climb?

Mike Evans has a chance to climb the all-time list with the San Francisco 49ers

With 13,052 yards, he is just 37 yards away from passing Steve Largent and entering the top 20 players. That might happen as early as Week 1. There is a group of players in this range, and it would only take Evans 333 yards to jump Largent, Andre Reed, Hopkins, and Tory Holt to have a firm hold of 17th all-time.

Evans hit 368 yards last year in what was the worst year of his career. Unless he is going to fall off a cliff for the 49ers, the odds are that he will finish the season no lower than 17th all-time.

Evans notably hit 1,000 yards in every year of his career aside from last season, when he was sidelined due to injuries. Mike Clay of ESPN has him scheduled for 924 yards. If he just hit the 1,000-yard mark again, he would jump to 12th all-time. He would jump Julio Jones, Henry Ellard, Anquan Boldin, Chris Carter, and James Lofton.

He would need 1,134 yards to jump into 11th and 1,294 yards to get into the top ten. Those seem a bit tougher for him to manage. Of course, if he does stay healthy and records 1,000 yards, the odds of him returning for the 2026 season would increase, and there is a chance he can continue to climb the all-time list.

Randy Moss is probably the most realistic goal for Evans, as he would need 2,241 yards to surpass Moss. That would take two strong years, but perhaps he has a new life with the 49ers offense and puts up back-to-back years with over 1,000 yards. That would get him into fourth all-time, and he will need 2,157 to make it into the top five.

He needs 2,682 yards to catch Terrell Owens for third, and that seems too far out of his reach, even if he hit his best outcome with the 49ers.

This article was originally published on www.si.com/nfl/49ers/onsi as Mike Evans Could Climb NFL History With the 49ers.

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This story was originally published June 7, 2026 at 12:00 PM.