49ers depth chart: Predicting how George Kittle, tight ends pan out

The 49ers added veteran tight end Jordan Reed to complement George Kittle in 2020, shaking up the depth chart at the position this season.

It was a low-risk, potentially high-reward move for the San Francisco 49ers inking 30-year-old veteran tight end Jordan Reed to a one-year deal on Monday.

Reed, who spent his rookie 2013 season under now-Niners head coach Kyle Shanahan back when both were with the Washington Football Team, missed all of 2019 after suffering the last of what had been an elongated list of concussions. Yet San Francisco spent much of the offseason exploring tight end options to pair with their No. 1 threat: last year’s All-Pro, George Kittle.

Now, Reed is expected to provide quite the spark at a position where the 49ers already have depth.

Speaking of that depth, Reed’s placement on the offseason roster shakes things up quite a bit.

The Niners retained two tight ends from last year behind Kittle, Ross Dwelley and the seldom-discussed Daniel Helm. Additionally, Shanahan and the front office brought aboard rookies Charlie Woerner and Chase Harrell, the latter being signed out of Arkansas as an undrafted free agent.

While Reed is anything but guaranteed to make the regular-season 53-man roster, his signing on an incentive-laden deal suggests Shanahan wants to boast what few offenses have: a legitimate pass-catching duo at the position, which creates all kinds of trouble for opposing defenses rarely equipped to defend against it.

Yet it’s bad news for many of San Francisco’s other tight ends who were in line for a possible roster spot once training camp concludes, too.

Let’s take a look at how the 49ers depth chart at the position behind Kittle is shaken up entering camp.