Former Carolina Panthers linebacker Luke Kuechly knows Mike Evans. The Hall of Famer played against Evans a lot in the NFC South matchups between his Panthers and Evans’ Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

And now that Evans has moved coasts to play for the San Francisco 49ers, Kuechly told NBC Sports Bay Area that he’s excited to see his former opponent thrive on a new team.

“He’s just a veteran guy that’s a really good football player still and that wants to win and he’s a great dude,” Kuechly said. “Think about it, he was in Florida, no state income tax, takes less to come out here, big state income tax. He truly came here because of the guys in the locker room and what Kyle does on the offensive side of the ball.”

Evans signed a three-year deal worth a reported $60.4 million, but only $16.3 million is guaranteed. So at his peak, the 49ers have a true No. 1 pass-catcher for Brock Purdy. But even at his worst, the risk is minimized by the inexpensive deal for a player of Evans’ caliber.

When it came to his impressions of playing against Evans for years, Kuechly praised the veteran wideout.

“We always had a tremendous amount of respect for each other and that’s what I always liked about Mike,” Kuechly said. “He is ultra-competitive and he wants to win but he has a ton of respect for not only the game but for the other guys that play and he does it the right way.

“I just like Mike too, he’s a great guy and you guys got a good one. I think he’s going to come in and fit in right away and I think he just wants to win. At the end of the day, he wants to win.”

Apart from the injury issues from a year ago, Evans has been one of the most consistent receivers over the past decade. He had 11 consecutive seasons of at least 1,000 receiving yards between his rookie season in 2024 and his last full healthy season in 2024.

Now, he’ll step into the No. 1 receiver in the 49ers offense, with Ricky Pearsall and Christian Kirk behind him. The offense still runs through running back Christian McCaffrey, but Evans gives the 49ers a stable floor at the position they haven’t had since Brandon Aiyuk was healthy and Deebo Samuel was still on the team,.