The San Francisco 49ers have a lot of areas that need improvement heading into the offseason, but few would argue the team’s group of pass-catchers needs some serious upgrading.
Despite being ravaged by injuries at both wide receiver — Brandon Aiyuk (missed the entire season), Ricky Pearsall (missed 8 games), Jauan Jennings (missed 2 games) — and tight end — George Kittle missed 6 games — San Francisco somehow finished with the fifth-best passing offense in the NFL.
That was in large part to superstar running back Christian McCaffrey, who led the team with 102 catches and 924 yards receiving. Kendrick Bourne, who joined the team after the season opener, Demarcus Robinson, who was suspended the first 3 games of the year, and backup TE Jake Tonges all chipped in to help pick up the slack.
With free agency just a few weeks away, and the 2026 NFL draft a few weeks later, many expect the 49ers to add at least a receiver or two and another depth tight end should Kittle suffer with injuries again.
Draft Expert Has 49ers Going TE in Round 1
GettyOregon Ducks TE Kenyon Sadiq
When healthy, Kittle is still one of the best pure pass-catching TEs in the NFL.
The problem is he’s played a full season just once in his career. And his physical style of play lends itself to getting banged up pretty easily, which is why NFL Network’s Daniel Jeremiah believes the 49ers won’t hesitate to draft the best TE in the 2026 class — Oregon’s Kenyon Sadiq.
“Sadiq could go much higher than 27th overall,” Jeremiah wrote. “He’s undersized, but he has outstanding speed and is a competitive blocker. He would be the ultimate chess piece for Kyle Shanahan, giving the coach a hybrid of George Kittle and Kyle Juszczyk.”
Sadiq emerged as arguably the best tight end in the NCAA this season.
The 6-foot-3, 245-pound behemoth led all TEs in touchdowns this year (8), and he ranked fifth in receptions (51), eighth in yards (560), and was top-20 in yards per receptions (11), per Pro Football Focus.
Sadiq was also named Big Ten TE of the Year and he was a first-team All-Big Ten selection.
49ers Should Set Up a Kittle Succession Plan
Though he missed a third of the season, Kittle still proved to be a valuable part of the 49ers’ passing attack.
He finished second behind McCaffrey in receptions (57), was third behind McCaffrey and Jennings (643) in receiving yards (628), and tied with McCaffrey for the third-most TD catches (7).
But Kittle suffered hamstring and ankle injuries this year, and his season was ended in the wild-card round against the Philadelphia Eagles when he tore his Achilles. While he’s expected to be ready in time for next year, he’ll turn 33 a few weeks into the season and it’s clear his body won’t hold up to the punishment it used to the more into his 30s he gets.
Tonges showed he’s fully capable of stepping in and at least making up for some of Kittle’s lost production, but the 26-year-old was an undrafted free agent, and there’s some questions about whether or not he can handle the workload of a TE1.
Adding Sadiq would give San Francisco a clear succession plan for Kittle and possibly add a year or two onto his career.
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