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Tight end Tony Gonzalez spent 17 seasons in the NFL, which consisted of 12 with the Kansas City Chiefs and five with the Atlanta Falcons. He was a 14-time Pro Bowl selection and six-time first team All-Pro over his career. More important, he was consistently a dominating presence on the football field.
It's tough to imagine Gonzalez's name being absent when this year's Pro Football Hall of Fame inductees are announced on Saturday.
The San Francisco 49ers have a pretty good tight end of their own in
George Kittle, who just finished his second NFL season. And what a season it was. Kittle set a new single-season NFL record for receiving yards by a tight end with 1,377. He is only 25 years old and his tight ends coach, Jon Embree, who also serves as the assistant head coach, believes he can further benefit from a sit down with a great tight end, like Gonzalez, who was able to sustain success for so long.
That's exactly what Embree, who spoke with Matt Maiocco of NBC Sports Bay Area last week for the latest
49ers Insider Podcast, is working on setting up. He hopes to have dinner in February or March with Kittle and Gonzalez so the former NFL great can share some wisdom with the budding star.
Embree spent three seasons with the Chiefs as their tight ends coach, coincidentally, at the end of Gonzalez's time there.
"Tony is a great person," Embree said. "We still communicate and still talk. We talked before I came down here (to the Senior Bowl), as a matter of fact.
"Me and him are going to go have dinner with George because I want him to share some things with Kittle that him and I have done together that helped him be successful. And just some things from a mindset standpoint that he did that George needs to do to sustain the success that he had."
In addition to his record-setting 2018 season, Kittle was also selected to and played in his first Pro Bowl and was named a second-team All-Pro. He has averaged 14.4 yards per catch in his two seasons with San Francisco.
"Me and him are just going to be talking and doing dinner with George," Embree continued. "Then George and him are going to do some stuff, stay down there (in Los Angeles) and do some stuff over a week's period, just kind of getting to know each other a little bit and doing some things.
"Tony is someone who has continued to watch players and all that. And Tony knows how I work and the things that I want done. So Tony is going to work with him on some of those things and just teach him some of the tricks and nuances that he's done over his career."
Embree knows it is easier to be the hunter rather than the hunted. Now that Kittle has tasted success, he needs to learn how to sustain it. He will become one of the focuses of defensive game plans going forward.
"Now, when you walk in a game, everyone's going to know where 85 is at on every play," Embree said. "Everybody's going to defensively (want to) get your hands on 85. Get your hands on 85, re-route, jam, all those different things that he's going to have to face now that maybe he didn't face the entire year last year.
"So with him and Tony, I just want him to understand about how he needs to work, how he needs to continue to prepare, how do you handle certain things so that when those things arise, he's not sitting there trying to figure out something."
You can listen to the entire interview with Embree below.
Rumors have swirled regarding the situation between the San Francisco 49ers and wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk, who is entering his fifth NFL season and is slated to earn $14.124 million on a team-executed fifth-year option. Despite the 49ers publicly declaring a desire to sign Aiyuk to a contract extension, keeping him on the roster for the foreseeable future, many rumors have focused on potential trade interest.
On Monday, general manager John Lynch held his annual pre-draft press conference, addressing the Aiyuk situation without revealing any information on the conversations that have taken place behind closed doors. Once again, he emphasized that the 49ers want Aiyuk to remain with the team for the remainder of his career.
When asked if there was a chance Aiyuk
The San Francisco 49ers announced the signing of wide receiver Trent Taylor to a one-year deal, reuniting with the team's former fifth-round draft pick out of Louisiana Tech.
Matt Maiocco of NBC Sports Bay Area was the first to report that the 49ers were discussing a potential reunion with Taylor. The receiver was part of head coach Kyle Shanahan and general manager John Lynch's first draft class in 2017 and spent his first four NFL seasons with the team.
The #49ers are talking with free-agent slot receiver/return man
The San Francisco 49ers are hosting several draft prospects this week as the deadline for pre-draft visits draws near. According to Aaron Wilson of KPRC2, the team will host former Western Kentucky wide receiver Malachi Corley on Wednesday.
Corley is expected to be a Day 2 pick. San Francisco owns two selections on Day 2—the No. 63 overall pick in the second round and the No. 94 overall pick in the third round. Currently, the receiver is visiting with the Seattle Seahawks.
Western Kentucky @WKUFootball receiver Malachi Worley
Ian Rapoport didn't offer much of an update on the ongoing contract negotiations between the San Francisco 49ers and their standout wide receiver, Brandon Aiyuk. However, the NFL insider emphasized one thing: The team is not entertaining trade discussions at this juncture.
Reacting to Aiyuk's decision to unfollow the 49ers on Instagram, Rapoport couldn't help but chuckle at the latest development. This practice has become commonplace among players who are unhappy with their contract situations. Wide receiver Deebo Samuel similarly took this action in 2022 before requesting to be traded just before the draft.
Things have yet to escalate that far with Aiyuk, but Rapoport sees his
