The 49ers didn’t make any tight end additions in the 2022 NFL Draft, but there were some transactions afterward, which creates needed predictions for the depth chart.
San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan has long sought a quality No. 2 tight end to pair with the All-Pro, George Kittle.
Perhaps the closest Shanahan has ever come to having this was back in 2020 when the Niners inked veteran tight end Jordan Reed to a one-year deal, but the Reed-Kittle tandem never hit its full potential with both players dealing with an array of injuries over the course of an injury-plagued year for San Francisco.
And with the 49ers’ two depth tight ends in 2021, Ross Dwelley and Charlie Woerner, having statistically down years, one fairly wondered if Shanahan would shake things up in the 2022 NFL Draft.
Well, he didn’t. At least not by the way of a tight end.
Granted, it was a weak class for tight ends, and one could argue the Niners were wise not to reach for one of the limited ones available who might have a modest pro career. Yet San Francisco did make former North Carolina tight end Garrett Walston part of its undrafted free-agent class not long after the draft went final.
Except Walston didn’t hang around long, as the 49ers waived him shortly thereafter to make room for a veteran tight end in Troy Fumagalli.
These are back-end-of-the-roster transactions, and Walton didn’t exactly stand a real shot of making the Niners’ 53-man roster anyway. Fumagalli probably doesn’t either.
However, there are some notable battles to watch as we try predicting what San Francisco’s tight end depth chart will look like when Week 1 arrives.
Let’s take a deeper dive.
49ers offseason tight end depth chart
The 49ers currently have seven tight ends on their 90-man offseason roster:
- Ross Dwelley
- Troy Fumagalli
- Tanner Hudson
- George Kittle
- Tyler Kroft
- Jordan Matthews
- Charlie Woerner
A year ago, the trio of Kittle, Dwelley and Woerner primarily comprised this group, and Kittle managed to stay healthy for the majority of the season despite carrying over injury concerns from 2020.
The big transaction for 2022, though, wasn’t the addition of a rookie. Rather it was the Niners inking former New York Jets and Cincinnati Bengals tight end Tyler Kroft to a one-year deal.
Read More: Tyler Kroft has a real shot to make 49ers’ 53-man roster
Kroft, 29 years old, had only modest production the last four seasons, posting 16 receptions for 173 yards and a touchdown in nine games for the Jets, which was the highest in yearly totals since his somewhat impressive 42-catch, 404-yard, seven-touchdown campaign with the Bengals in 2017.
That 2017 season marked Kroft’s best year as a pro, and the bulk of his other seasons largely emulate what he did in 2021.
Nevertheless, Kroft will battle with both Woerner and Dwelley for a spot on a likely three-man regular-season depth chart.
Will that be enough, though?
49ers 2022 regular-season tight end depth predictions
Theoretically, San Francisco could keep four tight ends on its 53-man roster. Kyle Shanahan has done this before, and one could look at 2019 when now-retired tight end Garrett Celek was on the roster alongside George Kittle, Ross Dwelley and Levine Toilolo.
This doesn’t seem too likely, though, and having three seems like the most plausible option.
Kroft’s $25,000 in dead money, if cut, isn’t a deterrent. And him joining the fray midway into the 49ers’ offseason program doesn’t bode well for him. However, Charlie Woerner appears to be the one player Kroft could beat out for a roster spot.
If he does, expect the tight end depth for Week 1 to look something like this:
- George Kittle
- Ross Dwelley
- Tyler Kroft
That would mean Woerner, entering year three of his rookie contract, would be on the outs but could easily be relegated to the practice squad, considering few teams are going to aggressively pursue a waived blocking-only tight end on the wire before Week 1.
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And what of Jordan Matthews, the former wide receiver who turned into a tight end last season? He’s appeared in three games for the Niners over the last two years and seems to be in the same ilk as cornerback Dontae Johnson: someone San Francisco seemingly likes to have around but not active so much on game day.
Perhaps that trend will continue.
Kroft, Dwelley and Woerner will be the three to watch, though, as those two remaining spots behind Kittle will be the most fluid.