With Kansas City being tough against wide receivers, it makes me wonder if George Kittle will show up big in the Super Bowl. This could be a game where the 49ers are looking to use him more.
Kittle is no Travis Kelce, as evidenced by him catching only 2 passes for 27 yards in the shootout against the Lions. But Kittle does show up from time to time with big games. He went over 100 yards three times in the regular season, and he caught 3 TDs in a win over Dallas. Kittle caught a credible 4 passes for 81 yards and a touchdown in the playoff win over the Packers.
Kittle is an asset as a blocker; that’s a given. And he also gets downfield more often than other tight ends. There are 22 active tight ends with at least 200 career catches, and Kittle averages almost a yard more per catch than any of them. (He’s up at 13.6 yards per catch, which is the kind of number you expect to see from a wide receiver.)
| TIGHT ENDS: YARDS PER CATCH | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | Recs | Yards | Avg | TD |
| George Kittle | 460 | 6,274 | 13.6 | 37 |
| Mark Andrews | 381 | 4,857 | 12.7 | 40 |
| Travis Kelce | 907 | 11,328 | 12.5 | 74 |
| Jimmy Graham | 719 | 8,545 | 11.9 | 89 |
| Darren Waller | 332 | 3,946 | 11.9 | 18 |
| Hunter Henry | 329 | 3,853 | 11.7 | 38 |
| Marcedes Lewis | 436 | 5,113 | 11.7 | 40 |
| Dallas Goedert | 307 | 3,589 | 11.7 | 22 |
| David Njoku | 287 | 3,264 | 11.4 | 25 |
| Jonnu Smith | 219 | 2,423 | 11.1 | 20 |
| Noah Fant | 252 | 2,805 | 11.1 | 14 |
| Mike Gesicki | 260 | 2,861 | 11.0 | 20 |
| Zach Ertz | 709 | 7,434 | 10.5 | 46 |
| T.J. Hockenson | 341 | 3,547 | 10.4 | 23 |
| Dalton Schultz | 270 | 2,757 | 10.2 | 22 |
| Austin Hooper | 364 | 3,702 | 10.2 | 25 |
| Tyler Higbee | 353 | 3,602 | 10.2 | 22 |
| Evan Engram | 449 | 4,557 | 10.1 | 24 |
| Cole Kmet | 211 | 2,118 | 10.0 | 15 |
| Gerald Everett | 284 | 2,833 | 10.0 | 19 |
| Tyler Conklin | 212 | 2,095 | 9.9 | 7 |
| Logan Thomas | 219 | 2,002 | 9.1 | 16 |
But I poked around some with the numbers on this, and I don’t see anything that suggests Kittle is particularly likely to hit it big in this game. If you look at the total number of balls caught by wide receivers, tight ends and running backs against the Kansas City defense, I see middle-of-the-pack numbers for each. And I haven’t seen a lot of tight ends getting loose for long catches against them – that’s a good defense.
Calling up the numbers for all tight ends against this defense, I see only 4 TDs total, and I don’t see many guys putting up big numbers.
Kansas City played against seven tight ends that I consider to be better players at the position, and those guys combined for 30 catches for 251 yards, with no touchdowns. That’s an average of 4.3 catches for 36 yards.
In the chart below, I’ve got the more heralded tight ends tagged with black dots. That’s a subjective exercise, of course. For the Ravens game, note that I tagged Isaiah Likely (with Mark Andrews coming back from an injury, Likely played a lot more). KC got Sam LaPorta in Week 1, before he was really in top form. And it similarly saw Cole Kmet when Chicago’s passing offense was in the dumps. But it’s a stab at things.
Tight ends are in descending order, sorted by overall production (using PPR scoring). The top two guys are players you wouldn’t have been excited about heading into the game – Hunter Henry and Donald Parham.
| TIGHT ENDS AGAINST KANSAS CITY | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | Site | Result | Tgt | No | Yds | Avg | TD | PPR |
| Hunter Henry, N.E. | N.E. | L 17-27 | 9 | 7 | 66 | 9.4 | 1 | 19.6 |
| Donald Parham, LAC | LAC | L 12-13 | 6 | 5 | 83 | 16.6 | 0 | 13.3 |
| • Evan Engram, Jac. | Jac. | L 9-17 | 8 | 6 | 57 | 9.5 | 0 | 11.7 |
| Gerald Everett, LAC | K.C. | L 17-31 | 4 | 3 | 26 | 8.7 | 1 | 11.6 |
| • T.J. Hockenson, Min. | Min. | L 20-27 | 8 | 5 | 51 | 10.2 | 0 | 10.1 |
| Tyler Conklin, NYJ | NYJ | L 20-23 | 6 | 4 | 58 | 14.5 | 0 | 9.8 |
| • Dalton Kincaid, Buff. | Buff. | L 24-27 | 5 | 5 | 45 | 9.0 | 0 | 9.5 |
| • Sam LaPorta, Det. | K.C. | W 21-20 | 5 | 5 | 39 | 7.8 | 0 | 8.9 |
| • Dalton Kincaid, Buff. | K.C. | W 20-17 | 8 | 5 | 21 | 4.2 | 0 | 7.1 |
| C.J. Uzomah, NYJ | NYJ | L 20-23 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1.0 | 1 | 7.1 |
| Ben Sims, G.B. | G.B. | W 27-19 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1.0 | 1 | 7.1 |
| Tanner Hudson, Cin. | K.C. | L 17-25 | 7 | 3 | 38 | 12.7 | 0 | 6.8 |
| Tucker Kraft, G.B. | G.B. | W 27-19 | 6 | 3 | 37 | 12.3 | 0 | 6.7 |
| Dawson Knox, Buff. | K.C. | W 20-17 | 3 | 3 | 36 | 12.0 | 0 | 6.6 |
| Drew Sample, Cin. | K.C. | L 17-25 | 4 | 3 | 21 | 7.0 | 0 | 5.1 |
| Durham Smythe, Mia. | FRG | L 14-21 | 3 | 3 | 17 | 5.7 | 0 | 4.7 |
| Michael Mayer, L.V. | L.V. | L 17-31 | 4 | 2 | 27 | 13.5 | 0 | 4.7 |
| Jeremy Ruckert, NYJ | NYJ | L 20-23 | 2 | 2 | 26 | 13.0 | 0 | 4.6 |
| Durham Smythe, Mia. | K.C. | L 7-26 | 4 | 3 | 12 | 4.0 | 0 | 4.2 |
| • Cole Kmet, Chi. | K.C. | L 10-41 | 2 | 2 | 22 | 11.0 | 0 | 4.2 |
| Brock Wright, Det. | K.C. | W 21-20 | 2 | 2 | 17 | 8.5 | 0 | 3.7 |
| • Isaiah Likely, Balt. | Balt. | L 10-17 | 3 | 2 | 16 | 8.0 | 0 | 3.6 |
| Mark Andrews, Balt. | Balt. | L 10-17 | 2 | 2 | 15 | 7.5 | 0 | 3.5 |
| Stone Smartt, LAC | LAC | L 12-13 | 3 | 2 | 14 | 7.0 | 0 | 3.4 |
| Austin Hooper, L.V. | K.C. | W 20-14 | 3 | 2 | 13 | 6.5 | 0 | 3.3 |
| Josh Oliver, Min. | Min. | L 20-27 | 2 | 1 | 15 | 15.0 | 0 | 2.5 |
| Austin Hooper, L.V. | L.V. | L 17-31 | 2 | 1 | 14 | 14.0 | 0 | 2.4 |
| Johnny Mundt, Min. | Min. | L 20-27 | 1 | 1 | 11 | 11.0 | 0 | 2.1 |
| Donald Parham, LAC | K.C. | L 17-31 | 3 | 1 | 9 | 9.0 | 0 | 1.9 |
| Mike Gesicki, N.E. | N.E. | L 17-27 | 2 | 1 | 7 | 7.0 | 0 | 1.7 |
| Cole Fotheringham, L.V. | K.C. | W 20-14 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 6.0 | 0 | 1.6 |
| Stone Smartt, LAC | K.C. | L 17-31 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 5.0 | 0 | 1.5 |
| Adam Trautman, Den. | K.C. | L 8-19 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 4.0 | 0 | 1.4 |
| Pharaoh Brown, N.E. | N.E. | L 17-27 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 4.0 | 0 | 1.4 |
| Gerald Everett, LAC | LAC | L 12-13 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 4.0 | 0 | 1.4 |
| Dawson Knox, Buff. | Buff. | L 24-27 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 4.0 | 0 | 1.4 |
| Jack Stoll, Phil. | K.C. | W 21-17 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 3.0 | 0 | 1.3 |
| Greg Dulcich, Den. | K.C. | L 8-19 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 3.0 | 0 | 1.3 |
| Nick Vannett, LAC | LAC | L 12-13 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 3.0 | 0 | 1.3 |
Statistics compiled using search tools at Pro-Football-Reference.com
—Ian Allan