A succession plan?

San Francisco 49ers tight end George Kittle (85)

It’s never too soon for mock drafts, and despite the paint still drying on the 2026 NFL Draft, chatter about the 2027 class will be hanging around for, well… the rest of the year.

Of course, talk about what the San Francisco 49ers will do a little less than a year from now has largely centered on finding an heir apparent for future Hall of Fame left tackle Trent Williams, who’ll turn 38 years old this summer and is fast approaching the twilight of his career.

But, with an aging core of star players, the Niners can’t just be thinking about a succession plan for Williams alone.

And that’s precisely what CBS Sports’ Ryan Wilson did with his 2027 mock draft, one that has San Francisco picking 26th overall.

The player the 49ers are ultimately looking to phase out?

None other than All-Pro tight end George Kittle.

49ers land TE Terrance Carter Jr. in CBS Sports mock draft

Kittle, too, is getting much older and will turn 33 years old this season. He’s also coming off a torn Achilles suffered last January, and one can safely wonder if his recovery will cut into his 10th season as a pro.

Granted, Kittle’s persona, leadership and record-setting tendencies effectively mean he can play football as long as he wants, and the Niners would be wise to keep him in the building however long as possible. But, considering a contingency plan here might not be the worst thing San Francisco could do.

And that’s where Wilson’s mocked selection of Texas Tech tight end Terrance Carter Jr. comes into play:

Carter Jr. is a long-striding playmaker who threatens all three levels of the field and runs like a power back after the catch. While he struggles with focus drops at times, his combination of vertical speed and high-effort blocking makes him a dynamic weapon as offenses continue to use more multiple TE sets.

Granted, Wilson doesn’t come right out and say this is Kittle’s replacement. Anything but. Yet it’s impossible not to read the proverbial tea leaves and recognize if the 49ers use a first-round pick on a tight end, they fully anticipate him being Kittle’s heir apparent in the not-too-distant future even if the immediate benefit would be the aforementioned two-tight end sets.

It’s not wholly out of the question either. Former Oregon tight end Kenyon Sadiq, who ended up being drafted by the New York Jets last month, was discussed as a possible Niners target in Round 1. And that, too, would have caused discussions about Kittle slowly being phased out, had it happened.

It didn’t. But it doesn’t rule out the possibility of someone like Carter slowly pushing the fan-favorite tight end out of the way in the not-too-distant future.

At least there’s some time between now and then.