We knew that, but 49ers TE George Kittle cemented himself as one of the greatest ever
George Kittle has had some impressive seasons since the 49ers selected him in the fifth round of the 2017 draft. The two that come to mind are his 2018 campaign, when he temporarily set the single-season tight end receiving yard record with 1,377 yards, and his 2022 season, when he finished with a career-high 11 touchdowns.
However, while 2018 and 2022 might have yielded better numbers, Kittle’s 2024 season might have been the most impressive of his career. Kittle finished the season with 78 receptions on 95 targets, totaling 1,106 yards, earning second-team all-pro honors after being snubbed from the first-team.
But this portion of What We Learned isn’t about Kittle’s 2024 season but his entire body of work. Despite everything that went wrong, Kittle remained the bright spot of a sputtering 49ers offense, managing 1,000 receiving yards in a season for the fourth time in his career. Crossing that plateau put Kittle in some elite company, making the 49ers tight end the fifth in NFL history to record at least four 1,000-yard seasons. The other four? Travis Kelce (seven), Rob Gronkowski (four), Jason Witten (four), and Tony Gonzalez (four).
That’s a group of one Hall-of-Famer and three future Hall-of-Famers that Kittle just joined. But that’s looking just yards; what about the whole picture? Through eight seasons, Kittle has 538 receptions for 7,380 yards and 45 touchdowns in 113 games. In NFL history, only 11 other tight ends have had those numbers or better over their career:
- Gonzalez
- Witten
- Kelce
- Gronkowski
- Antonio Gates
- Shannon Sharpe
- Greg Olsen
- Jimmy Graham
- Zach Ertz
- Ozzie Newsome
- Vernon Davis
Three are currently in the Hall of Fame (Gonzalez, Sharpe, and Newsome), with several others like Kelce, Gronk, Gates, and Witten, waiting for the knock on their door.
However, Kittle’s numbers are over the first eight years and 113 games of his career. He still has plenty of time left in his playing days to improve and climb up that list. Kittle is within 1,000 yards of Ertz, Davis, and Newsome, with those three playing at least 12 seasons. Olsen and Sharpe are just 15 and 17 receiving touchdowns ahead of Kittle, respectively, with both Olsen and Sharpe playing 14 seasons in their careers. Kittle is within reach of surpassing Gronkowski’s 621 career receptions next season despite Gronk playing 11 seasons and 143 games.
Kittle has already put himself in elite company with his career around the halfway point, with all 11 of those other names having more seasons to accomplish what Kittle has done in just eight. So, what if we limited the above list to 7,360 yards, 45 touchdowns, and 538 receptions over the first 113 games of their career instead of throughout their entire career? The names that remain:
- Kittle
- Kelce
That’s it, that’s the list. Kelce built off those first 113 career games and has put together a career that will find him in Canton five years after he decides to hang up the cleats.
Kittle still has plenty left in the tank and can build off his impressive career numbers, but 49ers fans have gotten the whole ride over Kittle’s eight years with the team. He started his career as an underdog story, being a fifth-round pick, before establishing himself as a starter. The next step was consistency, and with that came his first Pro Bowl nod in 2018 before becoming a perennial All-Pro, with five All-Pro nods in his eight years.
The next step is to go from perennial All-Pro to future Hall-of-Famer, and with his 2024 season, Kittle may have crossed that plateau.