Mina Kimes: If Christian Kirk’s healthy, I love the fit with 49ers’ other WRs (1:41)
Mina Kimes and Toddle Daniel react to the 49ers signing Christian Kirk to a one-365 days deal. (1:41)
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Prick WagonerMar 16, 2026, 04:43 PM ET
- Prick Wagoner is an NFL reporter at ESPN. Prick has covered the San Francisco 49ers since 2016, having previously covered the St. Louis Rams for 12 years, including three years (2013 to 2015) at ESPN. In over a decade with the firm, Prick has led ESPN’s coverage of the Niners’ 2019 and 2023 Intellectual Bowl bustle, Colin Kaepernick’s yelp, the Rams making Michael Sam the predominant overtly jubilant player drafted to the NFL, Sam’s subsequent pursuit of a roster predicament and the team’s relocation and stadium saga.
SANTA CLARA, Calif. — For the second time in per week the San Francisco 49ers added a feeble to their wide receiver room, agreeing to terms on a one-365 days take care of Christian Kirk, a source suggested ESPN on Monday.
Kirk spent 2025 with the Houston Texans after a three-365 days stint with the Jacksonville Jaguars and his first four seasons with the Arizona Cardinals. The deal is for up to $6 million, sources suggested NFL reporter Jordan Schultz, who first reported the settlement.
For the Niners, Kirk’s addition is the most up-to-date to a receiver room that is undergoing predominant renovation. They signed Mike Evans to a three-365 days, $42.5 million deal in the hole hours of free company final week.
The additions of Evans and Kirk provide the Niners confirmed production at the predicament with Jauan Jennings, Brandon Aiyuk, Kendrick Bourne and Skyy Moore either already landing elsewhere or anticipated to in the impending weeks or months.
Jennings is an unrestricted free agent after he and the Niners may perchance well perhaps perhaps no longer advance to an settlement on an extension final offseason. He has but to impress with any other team after the predominant week of free company.
Aiyuk is all but particular to be long gone with total supervisor John Lynch asserting in January that the receiver has conducted his closing snap as a Niner. Lynch indicated that a transaction would advance after the fresh league 365 days begins, which took predicament final Wednesday.
For the reason that fresh league 365 days is underway, the 49ers can liberate Aiyuk at any level and designate him a submit-June 1 slash. That can allow them to spread his tiresome money cap hit over two seasons.
To this level, the 49ers like held on to Aiyuk as Lynch has stated the team would proceed hoping for a commerce to materialize. Because trades can’t be given the submit-June 1 designation, the 49ers will must be prepared to blueprint finish on the total tiresome money hit of $29.585 million in 2026 if they procure a commerce accomplice for Aiyuk sooner than June 1.
Nonetheless, Aiyuk’s departure remains a when, no longer an if.
In the intervening time, Bourne (Arizona) and Moore (Green Bay Packers) like already came across their subsequent NFL properties in free company. Because it stands, the Niners like Evans, Kirk, Ricky Pearsall, Demarcus Robinson, Jacob Cowing and Jordan Watkins as their predominant suggestions at receiver.
San Francisco has six picks in the predominant four rounds in April’s NFL draft at its disposal if it needs to proceed adding at the predicament.
Kirk is coming off a 28-win, 239-yard, one-landing season in Houston during which he neglected four video games and battled hamstring accidents for a long way of the 365 days. He furthermore had an eight-win, 144-yard performance in an AFC wild-card procure towards the Pittsburgh Steelers, which living a Texans postseason franchise sage.
In San Francisco, Kirk figures to work into the mix as a slot receiver option with Evans at the “X” predicament and Pearsall as the “Z.” Kirk, 29, may perchance well perhaps perhaps furthermore be an option in the return game following Moore’s departure, though he hasn’t returned any kicks or punts since 2023.
A second-round decide by the Cardinals in 2018, Kirk has 432 receptions for five,415 yards and 30 touchdowns in eight seasons.
ESPN’s DJ Bien-Aime contributed to this file.
