National Tight Ends Day has only been around since 2018, when George Kittle and Jimmy Garoppolo created it by accident. It’s not even a set date — rather, it’s the fourth Sunday of October, which coincided with Week 8 this week. Regardless of the origin or the legitimacy of the holiday, tight ends celebrated in style across the NFL, from superstars to breakouts to surprises. On Sunday, tight ends compiled 177 catches, a single-day record, according to NFL research, and 14 different tight ends found the end zone. Here’s who stood out most as we rank the performances:
1. George Kittle, 49ers
- 6 catches, 128 yards, 1 touchdown
It only makes sense that the holiday’s founder (co-founder?) led the way. Along with his excellent blocking, Kittle was near-unstoppable in the passing game, outrunning and outmuscling defenders of all shapes and sizes, as he has done his entire career.
And he had a ton of fun doing so, as always.
The 49ers will be relying heavily on Kittle down the stretch of the season with Brandon Aiyuk out, and so far, so good, as evidenced by a 30-24 win.
Kittle also became the fifth 49er to reach the 500-career-catch milestone. Not bad!
- 4 catches, 91 yards, 2 touchdowns
Pitts got the party started early for Atlanta, scoring just over two minutes into the game and then again one quarter later.
As you’ll see, Pitts started his celebration a little early on the second one, but the score ended up being upheld. No one takes away touchdowns from tight ends on National Tight Ends Day!
- 9 catches, 81 yards, two touchdowns
This Falcons-Buccaneers game certainly wasn’t lacking for tight end talent, and while Pitts got the win (and therefore gets a slight nod in these rankings), Otton was awfully impressive as well with a pair of scores of his own.
Otton, like Kittle, is taking on an added load with teammates injured. Chris Godwin is out for the season, and Mike Evans will miss the next few weeks. Otton has 17 catches and 181 yards over his past two contests.
One could argue McBride deserves to be a lot higher in these rankings. In fact, in a normal week, he would be. But, again, this was no ordinary week. McBride was excellent in the Cardinals’ 28-27 comeback win over the Dolphins, with seven catches and 106 yards in the second half alone.
- 10 catches, 90 yards, 1 touchdown
It hasn’t been the Travis Kelce of old this season, but maybe the holiday gave him some powers. All three statistical categories above were season highs, and the touchdown was a vintage Patrick Mahomes-Kelce connection near the end zone.
- 4 catches, 85 yards, 1 touchdowns
Adam Trautman??? Adam Trautman!!! The Broncos tight end had the catch of the day as Denver cruised to victory.
Trautman entered the game with two catches for 32 yards all year, proving anyone and everyone (tight end-wise) could get in on the action.
- 3 catches, 78 yards, 1 touchdown
Kraft continued his strong campaign, showing off his impressive skill set: size, speed, toughness and an ability to get it done in the red zone.
- 5 catches, 61 yards, 1 touchdown
If Trautman had the catch of the day, Njoku certainly wasn’t far behind as the Browns shocked the Ravens.
Tight ends Sam LaPorta, Mark Andrews, Dalton Kincaid, Evan Engram, Tyler Conklin, Brock Wright and Nate Adkins also found the end zone on a day where the position shined through and through.
