Evans Is Questionable Sunday, and San Francisco Has Already Learned Not to Count on Anyone

Mike Evans is listed as questionable for Sunday, which at this point barely registers as news around here. The 49ers have spent the better part of six weeks discovering that the players they expected to be available often aren't, and the players they signed to fill those gaps are being asked to do more than depth signings typically can.

The receiver room tells the story plainly. Brandin Cooks, 33, is the starter. Dante Pettis — who I noted when he signed — is the number two. Jacob Cowing is third on the depth chart. That's a thin rotation under any circumstances; it's a fragile one when the veteran you brought in to anchor the whole thing is uncertain week to week. Christian Kirk is on injured reserve. The front office has been adding names since mid-September, and the names keep changing without the situation improving.

What's shifted is the nature of the problem. Early in this stretch it looked like an injury story — bad luck, bodies piling up, something that might stabilize. It doesn't look that way anymore. The 49ers have only two receivers with meaningful playing time this season, and the depth chart behind them is populated by players who haven't established themselves at this level. Evans was supposed to change that calculus. He still might, eventually. But Sunday is Sunday, and right now San Francisco is asking Cooks and Pettis to hold a contending offense together while they wait to find out.