George Kittle

Wagoner prefaced the statement by revealing that in the first meeting between 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan and Evans, "Shanahan laid out the plan for how he will be incorporated into an offense that also includes" RB Christian McCaffrey, TE George Kittle and QB Brock Purdy. McCaffrey's 95 red zone touches in the 2025 regular season led all 49ers players by 79 and all other NFL players by 21. Knowing that Shanahan is already scheming up red zone opportunities for Evans is great to hear. McCaffrey can also lose a few red zone touches and still remain an elite RB1. There should be more than enough opportunities in scoring position for both players to feast. Evans currently projects as a WR2 with double-digit touchdown upside.

He gets $5.5 million guaranteed. If George Kittle's rehab from a torn Achilles runs into the regular season -- which seems likely, even with all the positivity around it -- Tonges should be a solid low-end TE1 while Kittle misses time. He averaged 4.5 catches for 44.5 yards in the games Kittle missed early last season, adding five touchdowns along the way.

Wagoner's long piece on Kittle's injury is rooted in the idea that Kittle's Achilles tear was "clean" and "happened high up by his soleus," meaning the blood flow wasn't as poor as it could be during the recovery. Kittle did not entirely rule out the idea of being ready for Week 1. We'd be surprised if a tight end entering his age-33 season was ready for Week 1, but we've learned not to count out any wild physical feats from Kittle. This timeline makes him a little more interesting in 2026 best ball, at the very least.

The first draft under Kyle Shanahan got George Kittle. That s it. That s the positive.

49ers TE George Kittle revealed recently that the location of his Achilles injury could have him back on the field sooner than expected. He had a clean tear higher up on the Achilles. "They didn't have to drill into my heel," Kittle explained. "And where the repair was is where there's more blood flow. And so, it takes some time off the recovery time."