NFL Insider Shares Awesome Story of George Kittle Guzzling Tequila During 49ers’ Win

Did someone ask for a bottle of Patron?

George Kittle reportedly requested a bottle of tequila after suffering his season-ending Achilles injury during the 49ers’ wild-card win over the Eagles. | Photo by Lachlan Cunningham/Getty Images)

Nothing can take away the pain of suffering a season-ending injury during a win-or-go-home playoff game against the defending Super Bowl champs. But for 49ers star George Kittle, a shot or two—or many, many more—certainly doesn’t hurt.

Kittle saw his 2025 NFL campaign cruelly get cut short when he tore his Achilles in the second quarter of last Sunday’s game against the Eagles. After getting carted off the field, Kittle was reportedly visited by 49ers owner Jed York, who asked if there was anything he could do for him. That was when Kittle put in his boozy request.

The Athletic’s Dianna Russini, who shared a now-viral tweet about Kittle and his tequila bottle during the 49ers-Eagles game, opened up about the full story on Tuesday:

“I was sitting next to Mike Silver, my colleague, I’m like, ‘I’m going to go to the tunnel and see if anything happens,’” Russini said on the Dan Le Batard Show. “Because it’s George Kittle, he’s incredibly magnetic and he’s got such a big personality, he doesn’t strike me as a guy who’s going to get injured and just put a towel over his head.

“So I went down to the tunnel, and I see his wonderful wife Claire and Jed York, the owner, just walking there and they look miserable for obvious reasons. I’m just about to walk off, and I see a guy that I had seen on the field that worked for the Niners, and he had a tequila bottle under his arm. And he went into the locker room. ... It was pretty obvious that that tequila bottle was for George Kittle. And it turns out they took shots, they basically drank their heads off at halftime, or at least through the game, because [Kittle] was so miserable.”

George Kittle: Just like us pic.twitter.com/PQbEsZdmOB

— Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz (@LeBatardShow) January 13, 2026

Kittle had missed a handful of games during the regular season due to injury but entered Sunday’s wild-card matchup healthy and hoping to exact revenge on the Eagles, who blew out the 49ers back in the 2022 NFC title game.

The veteran tight end wasn’t able to join his teammates on the field for the thrilling 23–19 win, but at least it sounds like he had the time of his life celebrating the victory in the locker room.

“After the game, all the players went in there and they see George, and he’s like hammered,” continued Russini. “And he’s like, ‘Let’s go!’ And everyone started taking shots, and that bottle was on the floor, empty obviously. It was quite a celebration in a locker room from a team that wasn’t probably expected to knock out the Super Bowl champs.”

Earlier this week, Kittle shared a bittersweet Instagram post in which he thanked everyone for their support. “We aren’t done yet! Also when your team owner is the first person to meet you in the locker room, you know you’re in a special place,” Kittle wrote, signing off with a merry “cheers.”

Peep the empty Patron bottle off to the side in the first photo of Kittle’s post. Wishing the much-beloved 49ers star a speedy recovery this offseason.

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