Mike Evans gave the Tampa Bay Buccaneers a shock when he signed his three-year, $42.4 million deal with the San Francisco 49ers this offseason. Head coach Kyle Shanahan and Co. are getting a veteran with years of experience. However, to Colin Cowherd, the 49ers seem to be killing their future by going all in to save the present.

“I just don’t get it,” ” Cowherd said on The Colin Cowherd Show, about the 49ers’ additions this offseason. “They’re really old and really expensive and really brittle. And the issue is that it’s hard in pro sports. Older players get hurt more often and take longer to recover. And in football, you’re getting tackled. There’s a lot of a regulated level of violence.”

Evans is entering his 13th NFL season and will turn 33 this year. He might be on the edge of what qualifies someone as an outlier in the league, having hauled in more than 1,000 receiving yards in almost every season. Almost, because that 11 year streak was broken with Evans getting injured in the 2025 season, and was limited to just eight games. His scoring has also been erratic throughout his career. Evans has been injured quite regularly since the 2019 season, at least.

The veteran WR is part of a bigger, problematic picture, according to Cowherd. With Evans now in the mix, San Francisco has 20 players over the age of 30 on its roster. Several of these are the backbone of the team’s success: George Kittle, Christian McCaffrey, Kyle Juszczyk, and Trent Williams, all of who were pointed out by Cowherd.

“This offseason, they go get Mike Evans and Dre Greenlaw: older players who have had injuries,” he added. “They paid Trent Williams, Christian McCaffrey, and George Kittle: older players who have had injuries. Now, I’m not denying the greatness of the aforementioned players, but here is Kyle Juszczyk saying, ‘I like where we are.’

The average ages of Kittle, Williams, and McCaffrey is 33. Juszczyk is 35. Kittle is still making his way back to full health after snapping his Achilles last season. McCaffrey, who’s had to double up as a pass catcher despite being a running back, missed significant time in the 2022 and 2024 seasons. All these players are pretty much regulars in Pro Bowl nods. But their careers’ twilights are not far away.

Cowherd contrasted this situation with that of the Seattle Seahawks and Los Angeles Rams, who haven’t hesitated to remove troubling players when needed.

“The Rams, the minute they felt Jalen Ramsey was kind of doing his own thing, out. The minute Todd Gurley had an off year, a dip, out. Cooper Kupp, out. The seahawks, DK Metcalf getting a little loud and a little needy, gone.”

Both team still have quite the number of veterans; Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford is among the senior-most in the league. But unlike the 49ers, Los Angeles is the No. 1 favorite to win the Super Bowl. The Seahawks are the reigning Super Bowl champions.

These two NFC West Giants aren’t hesitate to make changes. But San Francisco is adamant to hang on to its older players.

San Francisco needs to get younger. And with two of the league’s most dangerous young rosters sitting right in their own division, that warning might be harder to ignore than ever.