Love and Hate Relationship with George Kittle in Fantasy Football

San Francisco 49ers tight end George Kittle is an NFL original.

He wears his emotions on his sleeve. He cheerfully interacts with fans. He’s willing to look silly in television commercials.

And he royally screwed me out of a fantasy football championship.

No Thanks For the Memories

The year was 2018. Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper lit up the silver screen in A Star Is Born. Cardi B’s album Invasion of Privacy dominated the airwaves. Pete Davidson got engaged to Ariana Grande. Pete Davidson got unengaged to Ariana Grande.

And Alan Goldsher (a.k.a., me) was on the verge of his first fantasy football championship in three seasons. But my league wasn't on Renegade Fantasy and thus I couldn't make real time substitutions.

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The date was December 9, and after the early slate of games, I was fully confident that a trip to a fantasy Super Bowl—not to mention my league’s the whopping $400 payout—would be mine. (Hey, don’t roll your eyes at the bread, not all of us can afford a $10,000 buy-in.)

On that chilly late-fall afternoon, my lineup choices had been impeccable: Derrick Henry punched in four tuddies and racked up 238 yards. My top two wide receivers, Julio Jones and Juju Smith-Schuster combined for 63.6 fantasy points. And Andrew Luck’s 23.6-point fantasy performance put me over the edge. The glory would be mine.

Or so I thought.

Heading into the late games, I boasted a solid 19-point lead over some dude named Brian, and man, was I set: I had Bucs stud receiver Mike Evans going up against the Saints, while Brian had George Kittle facing Denver. No sweat, there: Evans was in his Hall of Fame prime, while Kittle, though a fine receiver, wasn’t exactly Rob Gronkowski.

Our game was over.

Until it wasn’t.

By George I think I got it

On this day in 2018, George Kittle goes for 210 yards receiving in a win over the Broncos. He was 4 yards short from all-time yards for a TE in a game.

He became the #49ers' first tight end to reach the 1,000-yard receiving milestone.#Random49ers #FTTB pic.twitter.com/NgggVXdsbF
— #Random49ers (@Random49ers) December 9, 2023

Kittle-watchers and Niners fans remember the day well. The University of Iowa product grabbed seven of his nine targets—one of which went for 85 yards, earning him a buttload of bonus fantasy points due to our league's stupid scoring system...which, it probably should be noted, was created by me—and found the end zone once, all of which sussed out to 27 fantasy points.

Evans finished with 8.7 fantasy points, making him that week’s WR28.

But you know wasn’t WR28? You know who was WR1? By, like, a lot?

Dallas’ Amari Cooper.

And you know what was sitting on my bench?

Dallas’s Amari Cooper.

On December 9th, 2018, Amari Cooper had:

10 REC
217 YDs
3 TDs

On Philly's head 😮‍💨🔥pic.twitter.com/expN92oVfx
— CowboysMuse (@Cowboys_Muse_) July 7, 2025

Cooper's performance that afternoon was epic: 10 receptions, 217 yards, three touchdowns, and 39.7 fantasy points.

Some quick math tells us that 39.7 fantasy points is considerably more than 8.7 fantasy points.

Some more quick math tells us that Cooper’s explosion would’ve gotten me the dub.

And had I had the opportunity to rip Evans out of my lineup and replace him with Cooper like fantasy football players can on Renegade Fantasy, my life, to this day, would’ve been 15.6% better. At least.

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This all went down seven years ago, and I’ve forgiven George.

But I haven’t forgotten. Which is why I now draft Kittle for each and every one of my fantasy teams and why I moved my league to Renegade Fantasy, the only Fantasy App that let's you make substituions in real time!.

Amari Cooper and I, however, haven’t spoken since.