The rivalry between the San Francisco 49ers and Seattle Seahawks heated up in their Week 5 matchup, and in one instance of tensions bubbling to the surface, 49ers wide receiver Mike Evans took his trash-talking of Seahawks cornerback Trevon Diggs to a disrespectful, even comical, level.
The two exchanged words at the end of a play, and Evans turned around, grabbed Diggs by the shoulders and spun him around so he could see the name on the back of his jersey. The name-check could be thought of as a show of dismissal, but Evans said after the game that he was legitimately curious about who was talking to him.
“I blocked him until the whistle,” Evans said. “He said something like I was doing extra, or something like that. I didn’t know that was him at first. I played against him a few times, and we’ve always been cool. He was a good player. I honestly didn’t know it was him, because with the helmet, it’s hard to tell sometimes. We were talking trash, and I think I pushed him. I was like, ‘Who are you?’ I looked to make sure. I was like, ‘Oh, it’s f—ing Diggs.’ Then he pushed me. It should be punishment.”
Evans remembers Diggs from the three games they played against each other with their previous teams. Evans and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers defeated Diggs and the Dallas Cowboys in the 2021 and 2022 regular seasons before reversing the roles in an NFC Wild Card game in January 2023.
Diggs made a huge name for himself in the prime of his career when he led the NFL in interceptions, earned a first-team All-Pro selection and earned the first of two Pro Bowl nods in 2021. He followed that campaign with another standout season in 2022 and earned a huge five-year, $97 million contract extension with the Cowboys.
In the years since, however, Diggs has battled injuries and bounced from the Cowboys to the Green Bay Packers and eventually the Seahawks. Seattle lifted Diggs from its practice squad for Sunday’s game.
Name-checking a player who was once among the league’s best players and is now fighting for a roster spot is the kind of troll work that goes viral on social media. Evans has made waves throughout the NFL community for his trash-talking theatrics.
“Mike plays with an edge,” 49ers offensive tackle Trent Williams told CBS Sports Bay Area. “He plays with a huge edge. Something that you wouldn’t expect a receiver to have. But that was pretty funny.”