Why the 49ers Won't Play George Kittle and Jake Tonges Together

This is rich.

Joe Camporeale-Imagn Images

The 49ers just might have the best tight-end duo in the NFL if they ever got to play together.

George Kittle is a future Hall of Famer who's still the best tight end in the league when healthy. But he missed six games this season, and in his place, backup tight end Jake Tonges played extremely well. He finished the season with five touchdown catches -- only two fewer than Kittle.

And yet, when Kittle is healthy, Tonges almost never plays. Last week against the Seahawks Tonges played zero offensive snaps. Instead, Luke Farrell was the No. 2 tight end when the 49ers went to 12 personnel (one running back, two tight ends).

Through 17 games, Kittle and Tonges have been on the field together for just 7 snaps, which is hard to fathom, considering they're both good.

Troy Taormina-Imagn Images

On Thursday, I asked 49ers offensive coordinator Klay Kubiak if there's a schematic reason the 49ers rarely use their two best tight ends at the same time.

"You've gotta go 12 personnel, which we don't do a ton of to begin with," Kubiak said. "We'd love to Jake and George out there as far as when you're trying to take advantage of passing situations, but when you really look at when we put 12 personnel out there, we're usually in first and second down running situations. We haven't done that a ton this year.

"We're definitely more of a 21 personnel team (two running backs, one tight end). We've done a little more 22 personnel when we want to get Jake out there with George (two running backs, two tight ends). We do talk about it, it comes up, but it hasn't really fit so far with our personnel and what we've been in the majority of the year. But you'd love to have Jake and George out there. It's something we always talk about."

TRANSLATION: The 49ers are paying millions of dollars to their fullback Kyle Juszczyk and blocking tight end Luke Farrell, and have to justify their contracts by playing them over Tonges, who hasn't signed an extension.

Kyle Terada-Imagn Images

In fact, Tonges will be a restricted free agent at the end of the season. And the more the 49ers throw him the ball, the better his numbers will be, and the more likely it is that a team will try to sign him away from the 49ers. This is what happened last year when Jordan Mason priced himself out of Santa Clara before becoming a restricted free agent.

I'm guessing the 49ers want to keep Tonges for the next few seasons but might not have room in their budget for him if he performs well in the playoffs. So as long as Kittle is healthy, don't expect to see much of Tonges, even though he's one of their best receivers.

Call it a business decision.