San Francisco 49ers: 10 best single-season performances in franchise history
By Peter Panacy
No. 5: 49ers’ George Kittle Sets the Record for Tight Ends in 2018
The 2018 49ers weren’t particularly great, going 4-12 over what was otherwise a lost season. Yet George Kittle was one of the massive bright spots for head coach Kyle Shanahan and Co.
It wasn’t hard to see why the Niners’ 2017 fifth-round NFL Draft pick was going to be special. After all, his rookie season, Kittle set a new record with 43 receptions and 570 receiving yards, which was the most by a first-year tight end selected in Round 5 or later during the modern NFL era.
But few could have predicted what Kittle did his second season.
In Week 17, Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce broke former New England Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski’s single-season receiving record of 1,327 yards set back in 2011. But Kelce ended up holding the record for just a few hours or so, as Kittle ended up breaking the record late with a touchdown over the Los Angeles Rams, reaching 1,377 total receiving yards on the year.
The most by a tight end ever in a single season, in case you forgot.
What made things even better was Kittle would break Hall of Famer Mike Ditka’s previous record for most receiving yards by a tight end over his first three years in the league.
Still, it’s Kittle’s record-setting 2018 campaign which puts him on this list.