Not content to stop with Mike Evans, the 49ers are signing another veteran wide receiver. The team has agreed to a one-year, $6MM contract with Christian Kirk, veteran insider Jordan Schultz reports.
An eight-year pro who has divided his career among Arizona, Jacksonville and Houston, Kirk will join the recently signed Evans, Ricky Pearsall, Demarcus Robinson, Jacob Cowing and Jordan Watkins in San Francisco’s remade receiving corps.
The 49ers lost Kendrick Bourne and Skyy Moore earlier in free agency, while Jauan Jennings remains unsigned despite serving as their most productive wideout in 2025. They are also expected to lose Brandon Aiyuk via release or trade. Earlier today, Matt Barrows of The Athletic labeled the 49ers a strong candidate to make another receiver addition.
Kirk, a Texas A&M product who came off the board in the second round in 2018, averaged 59 catches, 726 yards and four touchdowns per season on his four-year rookie contract. That was enough to earn a four-year, $72MM contract with the Jaguars in March 2022.
Playing the second 17-game season of his career, Kirk posted personal highs in catches (84), yards (1,108) and touchdowns (eight) in his first year in Jacksonville. However, both his production and health have fallen off since then. After Kirk combined for 84 grabs, 1,166 yards and four scores over 20 games from 2023-24, the Jaguars traded the 5-foot-11, 200-pounder to the Texans for a 2026 seventh-rounder.
Kirk went through another injury-limited year in 2025, during which hamstring troubles held him to 13 games. The 29-year-old lined up in the slot for 73.2% of snaps and hauled in 28 of 52 targets for 239 yards, a career-low 8.5 YPC and a score. Those numbers did not help Kirk’s cause during a platform year, though he turned heads in the Texans’ wild-card round win over the Steelers. In a 30-6 blowout, Kirk torched Pittsburgh for eight receptions on nine targets, 144 yards and a TD. While Kirk only caught two of six targets for 20 yards in a loss to the Patriots in the divisional round, he picked up another score in what will go down as his last game as a Texan.
Barring an unexpected development, San Francisco’s addition of Kirk could close the door on Jennings’ five-year tenure with the franchise. PFR’s 18th-ranked free agent, Jennings is surprisingly still on the market in the wake of back-to-back strong seasons.
Sucks to lose Jennings but I do like this signing. I get that Jennings wants too much but I still hope if the market isn’t what he expected they can bring him back. Guy was meant to be a 49er.
What exactly does “meant to be a 49er” mean….from the players perspective, he was meant to be on any team that paid him the most money, and from a team perspective, he means so much to the team when he produces..when he doesn’t he finds himself either being released, or traded…..”meant to be a 49’er is a thing that went out in the 90’s man…..
Solid low risk, potentially high reward signing.
Nice signing
Good off-season so far from the 9ers
Stephen A is going to freak out that Charl- I mean Christian decided not to sign with the cowboys
I’m going to miss Jennings too. He’s just expensive for the 9ers to keep. My guess is he goes to the patriots or raiders
This could be the seemingly small move that puts the Niners over the top. Many thought it was Evans, but it’s guys like Kirk who are the real keys to winning.
The real keys to winning is keeping their defense and their QB on the field instead of IR….although their O-Line is a bit in flux and unspectacular, their offense as it was last season was good enough to get them to the playoffs…it was their defense that got smoked in that playoff loss. The notion of a player vaulting the team “over the top” doesn’t apply..
It’s more about Kirk’s aura
I know the nines are getting a lot of hype over their off season so far but the O line and pass rush are still problematic. They gotta keep Big Trent.
Pass rush was only an issue last year due to injuries. And they got more pocket push from in the middle. Less worried about the pass rush. O-line was decent, not great, but decent for the most part last year. Now if #71 is gone the o-line is a problem.
Like every year, injuries need to stay just league average. I don’t know how they are bottom of the league each year injuries.