What George Kittle said while recruiting Mike Evans to 49ers

During his introductory San Francisco 49ers news conference, wide receiver Mike Evans revealed that star tight end George Kittle sold the 49ers "big time" and is "a big reason why" Evans left the Tampa Bay Buccaneers after featuring only for the Buccaneers from the 2014 NFL Draft through this past January. 

On the latest edition of the "Bussin' With the Boys" podcast, Kittle spoke about his pitch to Evans. 

Mike Evans likes how 49ers are "run" compared to Buccaneers?

"One of the biggest things I said is that the Niners organization puts so much money back into the players and how they take care of us, how we travel, how our facility is ran," Kittle explained, per Dan Dempster of NBC Sports Bay Area. "[49ers CEO Jed York] does such a good job of putting money back into the team so that we can be at our best." 

Fair or not, the perception exists that Evans knew ahead of the "legal tampering" portion of free agency that he wanted to leave the Buccaneers for a Super Bowl contender such as the 49ers. On Wednesday morning, ESPN's Nick Wagoner shared that the three-year contract reportedly worth up to $60M that Evans inked to join the 49ers "is really a three-year deal worth $42.5M but essentially amounts to a one-year deal worth $14.3M, all of which is fully guaranteed."

Thus, it's fair to assume Evans left some money on the table. 

"I just think our organization is ran like an NFL team is supposed to," Kittle continued. "If you ask a 10-year-old kid like, 'What would you expect an NFL team to do?' We do all that plus more. So, I kind of just sold him on the organization."

49ers' "culture" also appealed to Mike Evans

Evans may or may not have taken shots at the Buccaneers and at Tampa Bay's Baker Mayfield when he said last week that he "was looking at contenders" and at teams "with good quarterbacks" while considering his playing future. Kittle suggested that catching passes thrown by San Francisco quarterback Brock Purdy isn't all that appealed to Evans about making the move out West. 

"We have a fantastic culture," Kittle added. "You've probably played on teams before that you're like, I couldn't stand like 10 guys on the team. I mean, the last five years there's maybe been like one guy I'm like, 'Ah, he's not my favorite, but I don't hate him.’ So, we have a great culture that was built by the players that are still there and -- I don't know -- we hit people really hard in the face, and we play really well."

Evans seemingly wanted to be convinced he was making the right call about leaving the Buccaneers. He'll now hope to have a better chance of earning a second Super Bowl ring with San Francisco than he did when the 2025 Buccaneers collapsed en route to missing the playoffs.