{"id":183565,"date":"2026-05-05T23:01:35","date_gmt":"2026-05-05T23:01:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=183565"},"modified":"2026-05-05T23:01:35","modified_gmt":"2026-05-05T23:01:35","slug":"bombshell-49ers-are-taking-a-tight-end-in-round-1-and-its-not-to-help-george-kittle-its-to-replace-him","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=183565","title":{"rendered":"\u201cBOMBSHELL: 49ers Are Taking a Tight End in Round 1 \u2014 And It\u2019s NOT to Help George Kittle\u2026 It\u2019s to Replace Him\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

A succession plan?<\/p>\n

<\/figure>\n

San Francisco 49ers tight end George Kittle (85)<\/p>\n

It\u2019s 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\u2026 the rest of the year.<\/p>\n

Of course, talk about what the San Francisco 49ers will do a little less than a year from now has largely\u00a0centered on finding an heir apparent\u00a0for future Hall of Fame left tackle Trent Williams, who\u2019ll turn 38 years old this summer and is fast approaching the twilight of his career.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

But, with an aging core of star players, the Niners can\u2019t just be thinking about a\u00a0succession plan for Williams alone.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

And that\u2019s precisely what CBS Sports\u2019 Ryan Wilson did with his 2027 mock draft, one that has San Francisco picking 26th overall.<\/p>\n

The player the 49ers are ultimately looking to phase out?<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

None other than All-Pro tight end George Kittle.<\/p>\n

49ers land TE Terrance Carter Jr. in CBS Sports mock draft<\/h2>\n

Kittle, too, is getting much older and will turn 33 years old this season. He\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

Granted, Kittle\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

And that\u2019s where Wilson\u2019s mocked selection of Texas Tech tight end Terrance Carter Jr. comes into play:<\/p>\n

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.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Granted, Wilson doesn\u2019t come right out and say this is Kittle\u2019s replacement. Anything but. Yet it\u2019s 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\u2019s heir apparent in the not-too-distant future even if the immediate benefit would be the aforementioned two-tight end sets.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

It\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

It didn\u2019t. But it doesn\u2019t 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.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

At least there\u2019s some time between now and then.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A succession plan? San Francisco 49ers tight end George Kittle (85) It\u2019s never too soon for mock drafts, and despite the paint still drying on the 2026… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":183566,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-183565","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nfl"],"yoast_head":"\n\u201cBOMBSHELL: 49ers Are Taking a Tight End in Round 1 \u2014 And It\u2019s NOT to Help George Kittle\u2026 It\u2019s to Replace Him\u201d - NEWS USA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=183565\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"\u201cBOMBSHELL: 49ers Are Taking a Tight End in Round 1 \u2014 And It\u2019s NOT to Help George Kittle\u2026 It\u2019s to Replace Him\u201d - NEWS USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A succession plan? 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