Tight Ends on National Tight Ends Day

It was a record-breaking day for tight ends on National Tight Ends Day.

Even though this is an accidentally created holiday by George Kittle and Jimmy Garoppolo, it has occurred every year on the last Sunday of October, and tight ends tend to have high numbers.

During their Week 2 game of the 2018 season against the Detroit Lions, Garoppolo found former 49ers tight end Garrett Celek for a touchdown pass.

After the end of the play, Garoppolo asked Kittle, “What is it, like National Tight Ends Day?” with Kittle responding, “Yeah, it’s National Tight Ends Day. It's a holiday. Tight ends all over the league are scoring touchdowns.” And the rest is history.

This year, tight ends recorded an NFL single-day record 177 catches, and 14 different players found the end zone to score 17 touchdowns.

Here are the top five standouts from their special day:

George Kittle, San Francisco 49ers

Who else other than the holiday’s founder is the top standout?

Kittle had his best game of the season, pulling in six out of seven targets for 128 yards in the 49ers Sunday night victory over the Dallas Cowboys.

He also scored one touchdown, making it his sixth touchdown of the season.

With Brandon Aiyuk out for the season, quarterback Brock Purdy will be looking for Kittle a lot more on the wideout.

Travis Kelce, Kansas City Chiefs

It seems that Travis Kelce is back to his usual self, or at least he looked like it this past week.

In the Chiefs’ win against the Las Vegas Raiders on Sunday, he was targeted a season-high 12 times, catching 10 of those for 90 yards and a touchdown, his first of the season.

Kelce also became the fifth tight end with 75 career touchdown passes.

His numbers are expected to stay high after the number of injuries the Chiefs’ wide receiver group has sustained this season.

Even with the addition of DeAndre Hopkins, Patrick Mahomes will need to continue finding his favorite target in Kelce for the Chiefs to keep their winning streak alive.

Kyle Pitts, Atlanta Falcons

It was a high-scoring day for Kyle Pitts.

The 4th-year tight end pulled in only four of five pass attempts in their victory over their division foe Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday, but he recorded a season-high 91 yards.

Pitts also found the end zone twice, with the first time being just two minutes into the game.

New Falcons quarterback Kirk Cousins has been relying on Pitts all season, and with a strong performance, he has shown why he will continue to be a top target for Cousins.

Trey McBride, Arizona Cardinals

It was a comeback win for the Cardinals against the Miami Dolphins, and a lot of that can be credited to Trey McBride.

He brought in nine of 11 catches for 124 yards, and even though he did not add any points to the board, he had arguably the best day of any player in Hard Rock Stadium on Sunday.

McBride caught seven of those catches in the second half alone for over 100 yards.

In the tightest division currently in the NFL, the Cardinals will need more strong performances like McBride’s to pull ahead in the NFC West race.

Cade Otton, Tampa Bay Buccaneers

After last week’s injuries to wide receivers Chris Godwin and Mike Evans, the Buccaneers needed someone to step up.

And that’s just what Cade Otton did.

He recorded his first two touchdown games of the season and caught 81 yards in nine catches.

Otton’s high numbers helped keep the Buccaneers in a close game against the Atlanta Falcons, and even though they did not come out on top, his performance was one of the best of the day.

Expect to see more targets for Otton as Godwin is out for the season and Evans is not expected to return for a couple weeks.

Ashley Mascaro is a third-year majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact her, please email aem6398@psu.edu.