The San Francisco 49ers‘ offseason addition of wide receiver Mike Evans was such a stunner that one of Evans’ former teammates with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers thought it was a hoax.
Buccaneers wide receiver Chris Godwin told reporters he was convinced at first that the news of his teammate joining the 49ers in free agency was the product of artificial intelligence.
“Honestly, I didn’t believe it,” Godwin said via ESPN’s Jenna Laine. “I mean, there’s a bunch of stuff on the internet that you can’t really believe, a lot of AI stuff. So I didn’t really believe it. And then I texted (Baker Mayfield). I was like, ‘Yo, is this for real?’ And he was like, ‘Sad face (emoji).'”
Evans left the Bucs after 12 seasons in Tampa Bay and joined the 49ers on a three-year, $42.4 million contract early in the NFL’s legal negotiating window. He was a first-round pick in the 2014 draft and formed a formidable WR duo with Godwin throughout Godwin’s nine seasons as a pro.
Now Evans will be in San Francisco where he’ll try to form a similar duo with either Ricky Pearsall or De’Zhaun Stribling.
It’s good news for the 49ers that the Evans news wasn’t fake news. They badly needed a lift to their receiving corps as evidenced by the Christian Kirk signing and Stribling pick in the draft that supplemented the Evans addition.
Last season they had a hard time finding stability in the receiving corps, and now that group will be headlined by three new names as the 49ers look to rise back to prominence as a Super Bowl contender in the NFC.
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This article originally appeared on Niners Wire: Chris Godwin thought Mike Evans signing with 49ers was product of AI
