SANTA CLARA, Calif. (AP) — San Francisco 49ers star receiver Mike Evans will miss Sunday's game against the Atlanta Falcons because of Achilles tendinitis.
Evans tried to play through the injury last week against Washington before leaving the game late in the first half and has been unable to practice this week. He will miss the game on Sunday and then have a week to rest when San Francisco is on a bye before the next game on Nov. 8 at home against Las Vegas.
The Niners ruled out five other players for the game with defensive end Nick Bosa (calf), receiver Deebo Samuel (hamstring), linebacker Garret Wallow (hamstring), linebacker Luke Gifford (groin) and safety Marques Sigle (ankle) all out for the game.
Bosa, who hasn't played since Week 2, had expressed optimism two weeks ago about playing this week but remains sidelined.
“He worked out after he said that and the next day it was just a little sore, which surprised all of us,” coach Kyle Shanahan said Friday. "That wasn’t a great sign, especially going to play on turf this week. So I think it was more he was just a little too optimistic."
Safety Siran Neal (knee), defensive back Upton Stout (shoulder) and receiver Christian Kirk (calf) are all listed as questionable with Kirk expected to make his debut for San Francisco after he is activated from injured reserve on Saturday.
The injuries could leave San Francisco with fewer healthy players than the maximum they are allowed to suit up for a game which could force some players into new roles especially if anyone gets hurt during the game.
“It's stuff we’ve talked about throughout the week,” Shanahan said. “Hope it doesn’t get to it, and odds are it won’t, but it definitely could. You’re always a few injuries away from those situations, and now it comes down to a couple. So those percentages go up.”
The most consequential injury for Sunday is the one to Evans with San Francisco already missing receivers Samuel, Ricky Pearsall, De’Zhaun Stribling and Demarcus Robinson.
The 33-year-old Evans has been a key part of the 49ers’ offense in his first season in San Francisco. He has 27 catches for 420 yards and three touchdowns. The Niners offense struggled in the second half last week after he left with the injury.
The 49ers will be forced to rely heavily on Kirk and Brandin Cooks, who joined the team last month and has two catches in three games so far. Both are veterans who have had 1,000-yard seasons in the past and have been working to get up to speed with quarterback Brock Purdy.
“I’m excited to get Christian Kirk out there now,” Purdy said. "That’s the nice thing for me is yeah, we have guys down, but we have some vets that are actually stepping up and have been in this moment before.”
The 49ers released defensive end Ogbo Okoronkwo on Friday to make room for Kirk's planned return to the active roster on Saturday. The move allows the Niners to bring Okoronkwo back to the practice squad on Saturday and elevate him for the game if they choose.
See AP’s full NFL coverage here
San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Mike Evans, left, runs against Washington Commanders safety Nick Cross (25) during the first half of an NFL football game in Santa Clara, Calif., Monday, Oct. 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Kelley L. Cox)
San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Mike Evans (5) walks off the field during the first half of an NFL football game against the Washington Commanders in Santa Clara, Calif., Monday, Oct. 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Jed Jacobsohn)
San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Mike Evans (5) reacts after a getting up from a play before walking off the field during the first half of an NFL football game against the Washington Commanders in Santa Clara, Calif., Monday, Oct. 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Kelley L. Cox)
ROTTERDAM, Netherlands (AP) — Skye Blakely kept going. Through heartbreak. Through injury. Through doubt. Through all of it.
The American gymnast never gave up on herself, not after her dreams of Olympic glory ended one step short of a lifelong goal not once, but twice. Not after “shutting down” at times mentally as she wondered if it was all worth it.
The 21-year-old from Dallas kept faith in herself and in the process. She took two years off from competing in the all-around at the elite level after tearing her right Achilles at the 2024 Olympic trials, opting to patiently and painstakingly rebuild her body and her routines until she felt they were ready, and not a moment before.
That moment arrived on Friday at the 2026 world gymnastics championships, when Blakely put together four polished and confident routines that ended with happy tears and an all-around gold medal around her neck that even she didn't see coming.
“Throughout the meet, I was telling myself ‘Do it for the girl in 2021 and the girl in 2024 who couldn’t do everything, just fight for her,'” Blakely said after posting a total of 55.733, more than a half-point ahead of silver medalist Liudmila Roschina of Russia and bronze medalist Ke Qinqin of China. "That’s what I kept telling myself: ‘I am capable, I am ready’ and I made every version of myself extremely proud.”
And maybe a bit surprised. Blakely was a prodigy in 2021 when she injured her elbow at Olympic trials. She was a semi-longshot then to make the team. She wasn't in 2024. Blakely was in excellent position to head to Paris before shredding her Achilles during training the day before the start of the competition.
Rather than rush back, Blakely took her time, competing usually as an event specialist at the University of Florida. She did the all-around for the first time in two years at the U.S. championships in August but ran out of gas on the final day of the meet.
Not this time.
Two days after the U.S. saw its long run of gold medals in the team finals at worlds end with a second-place finish to resurgent China, Blakely became the ninth American woman to win her sport's biggest annual title.
“It truly means the world to me, knowing how much I have overcome, all of the hardship that I faced and the days that I wanted to give up or didn’t think it was possible,” Blakely said. "To see it really come to be tonight, is just, it makes me so proud of myself and makes me reflect on little me who would dream of this.”
Taking the floor two nights after the U.S.'s long gold-medal run in the team finals ended for a variety of reasons — from China's brilliance on beam to some uncharacteristic miscues on the same event by the Americans, Blakely included — she responded with the best meet of her life. So far, anyway.
When Blakely headed to beam on Friday for the third rotation, she was atop the leaderboard after an excellent start on vault followed by a bars routine that's as good as anything done by an American at the moment.
Still, beam is different, a 75-second test of nerves. There were no missed connections this time, as there were in the team final. There were rarely any wobbles either. Blakely's score of 14.200 kept her in front and turned her floor exercise largely into a victory lap.
The tears after she saluted the judges following a routine set to music personally curated by Blakely — including the instrumental from “Show Me What You Got” by rap icon Jay-Z — were real. So were the ones when her spot atop the sport became official about 15 minutes later.
Blakely then draped the American flag over her back while posing for the cameras, drinking in a moment a long time coming in more ways than one.
Algerian Kaylia Nemour's bid to become the first gymnast from Africa to win an all-around title at worlds ended with a fourth-place finish. The 19-year-old's finals got off to a rough start in her first rotation when her feet didn't land squarely on the springboard while vaulting, forcing her to do a simpler vault that cost her valuable points.
While Nemour recovered spectacularly thanks in large part to an uneven bars routine that is one of the hardest routines done on any apparatus by any gymnast — male or female — in the world, it wasn't quite enough to reach the podium.
American Claire Pease's hopes of joining Blakely on the medal stand ended when she hopped off beam on her way to a seventh-place finish.
While the picture figures to get considerably more crowded in the next two years ahead of the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles, Blakely's perseverance and talent have thrust her into the conversation once again.
“I think it for sure sets me up and boosts my confidence for sure,” she said. "Especially knowing I have more to give.”
See AP’s full sports coverage here
Skye Blakely, of the United States, reacts after competing in the floor exercise during the women's all-around final at the Artistic Gymnastics World Championships in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, Friday, Oct. 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)
Kaylia Nemour, of Algeria, competes in the the uneven bars during the women's all-around final at the Artistic Gymnastics World Championships in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, Friday, Oct. 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)
Skye Blakely, of the United States, competes in the the uneven bars during the women's all-around final at the Artistic Gymnastics World Championships in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, Friday, Oct. 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)
Skye Blakely, of the United States, competes in the vault during the women's all-around final at the Artistic Gymnastics World Championships in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, Friday, Oct. 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Patrick Post)
Skye Blakely, of the United States, hugs her coach after competing in the floor exercise during the women's all-around final at the Artistic Gymnastics World Championships in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, Friday, Oct. 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)
Skye Blakely, of the United States, celebrates after winning the gold medal in the women's all-around final at the Artistic Gymnastics World Championships in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, Friday, Oct. 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)
