The San Francisco 49ers may have endured a miserable season, but it has been an outstanding campaign for tight end George Kittle. A first-team All-Pro last season, Kittle has once again been the best tight end in football in 2024 and added more milestones to his remarkable resume in Sunday's loss to the Miami Dolphins. Kittle racked up 106 receiving yards in the 29-17 defeat, taking him to 7,241 for his career and seeing him surpass Rob Gronkowski for the second most by a tight end in his first eight seasons in NFL history.
Additionally, Kittle recorded 100 yards in a game for the 20th time in his career, moving him into a group of four tight ends to have achieved that feat in their first eight seasons. Only Gronkowski (26), Travis Kelce (25) and Kellen Winslow Sr. (24) can claim to have done the same Kittle is now just 33 yards away from his fourth 1,000-yard season.
Should he reach that mark over the final two games of the year, he will become only the fifth tight end with that number of 1,000-yard campaigns. Kelce has seven, while Gronkowski, Jason Witten and Tony Gonzalez all have four. But with the 49ers eliminated from the postseason with a disappointing 6-9 record, it's clear those achievements do not carry the same significance to Kittle that they might do if San Francisco was still in the mix for the postseason.
Asked about the prospect of reaching 1,000 yards again, Kittle told his postgame press conference: "I set goals for myself before the season and 1,000 yards .