49ers TE George Kittle Is Quietly Chasing NFL History This Season

George Kittle will be working hard to get back on the field to help his team, but the San Francisco 49ers star tight end will also be climbing the record books this season.

Kittle has 8,008 yards in his career, which has him ranked 10th all-time at the position. He has a chance to jump up close to the top five this season.

George Kittle Has a Chance to Climb the All-Time Tight End Rankings This Season

There are three players directly ahead of Kittle that he should be able to catch this year. He needs 538 yards to pass Jimmy Graham, 585 yards to pass Zach Ertz, and 676 yards to catch Greg Olsen. Ertz is not retired, but is currently unsigned. He could add to his total this season, but the odds are that it will not be a significant increase.

Kittle has eclipsed 676 yards in six of his nine years. The only years he did not were two injury-shortened seasons and his rookie year. So, the odds are that as long as Kittle is healthy early enough in the year, he can make it to seventh all-time.

He is going to need 1,279 yards to catch Rob Gronkowski for the sixth-most all-time. While he has gone over 1,000 yards four times, he has only topped that number twice, and that was in 2018.

However, the thought is that Kittle is just 32. Of the players ahead of him, only Gronkowski retired after his age-32 season. Three made it to 35, one made it to 36, two made it to 37, and two made it to 38. Kittle needs over 2,000 yards to catch Shannon Sharpe for fifth best all-time, but if he can play three or four more seasons, that is starting to look more likely to happen than not.

Meanwhile, Kittle is impressively third all-time in receiving yards in 49ers history. He is just 565 yards away from catching Terrell Owens. So, as he jumps into seventh in the all-time tight end list, he will also climb the 49ers' all-time receiving charts. He should hit both marks this year, even with the injury.

Kittle is not going to catch Jerry Rice, so this is as high as he can get on the 49ers list. The question will be how much longer he can play to continue to climb the tight end charts.

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