New Heights with Jason and Travis Kelce - George Kittle on Tight End Respect, Mike Evans on the 49ers, F*ck Dallas Shirt & TEU Recap | EP 197

Episode Date: July 1, 2026

92%ers, welcome to another episode of New Heights brought to you by Expedia! Today, we're joined by one of our favorite people in football, George Kittle! We get the latest on his offseason, his recovery from injury, why he's become an Oklahoma City Thunder fan, his thoughts on Mike Evans joining the 49ers, the teams upcoming international game, and how Tight End U continues to grow every year and more! Plus, we get the story behind his iconic "F*ck Dallas" shirt, tackle another edition of We Gotta Ask, and wrap things up with Jet's Jake and Intern Brandon giving us a full Tight End U recap.For more George Kittle, check out his podcast “The Kittle Things” https://www.youtube.com/@kittlethingsShop all of our new merch at http://kelceclubhouse.comWatch and listen to new episodes of New Heights every Wednesday during the NFL season and follow us on Social Media for all the best moments from the show: https://lnk.to/newheightshowYou can also listen to new episodes on Wondery, Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. ...Download the full podcast here:Wondery: https://wondery.app.link/s9hHTgtXpMbApple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/new-heights/id1643745036Spotify:https://open.spotify.com/show/1y3SUbFMUSESC1N43tBleK?si=LsuQ4a5MRN6wGMcfVcuynwSupport the show: EXPEDIA: The one place you go to go places. https://www.expedia.com/AMERICAN EXPRESS: The Platinum card gives you access to the largest curated global hotel program through Fine Hotels + Resorts® and The Hotel Collection. Terms apply. Learn more at https://americanexpress.com/withplatinum Largest as compared to other credit card programs with special benefits through Fine Hotels + Resorts® and The Hotel Collection, as of 7/2025.MENTOS: Refresh the Everyday with Mentos Gum. Shop Now!REESE’S: Everything happens for a REESE’S. COLGATE: Colgate Total prevents problems before they start. Available on Amazon https://tinyurl.com/ColgateTotalAmazonALLSTATE: Check Allstate first for a quote that could save you hundreds: https://Allstate.com.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

As a fellow NFL podcaster, which is harder, hosting a podcast with your brother or your wife? I think with your brother, because you guys will just talk to each other. Like, I will not talk to my wife. She will whip my ass. Claire will beat the shit. To be fair, Jason will whip my ass. But we do most of these remote. Yeah.

So, yeah, but like, I'm terrified to say the wrong thing. And then once the camera gets off, I'm hiding. Claire, know all about that. Oh, yeah, dude. Your wife beats your ass all the time, Jason. I know that. 100%. Welcome back to New Heights, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, a Wondry show brought to you by Expedia, the place you go to go places.

Gotta love that slogan. We're your host. I'm Travis Couss and my big brother, Jason Kelsey out of Cleveland Heights, Ohio. Jason has kids if you can't hear and subscribe on YouTube wherever you get your podcast. I can follow the show on all social media. That's New Heights Show with one S. That's at New Heights Show with one S for fun clips throughout the week. Jason, tell the people what we got coming up this episode.

Well, we got another great episode coming up, 9-2% as we finally got him. We finally got him. That's right. George Kettle is here. Yeah, the People's Tight-in, baby. The People's Tight-end is in the building. He's going to get his intro, and we also sent our interns to summer school at Titan. Yep, they're going to recap their time in Nashville at the end of the episode.

We might have some footage. I hope that we have footage. We're 100% getting some footage. And we are also going to, uh, going to, uh, make fun of them. Let's give you some of that new news first though. New news is brought to you by American Express. Yes, the Express.

All right, programming updates. Next week is the last episode of the season. Can you believe that, Trev? How about it, man? It flies by. Yes, it does. We got a video recap on the fourth annual beer bowl and it should be coming out in July.

Nice. And yeah, that's it. That's it for New News, brought to you by American Express. And now we're going to toss it to George Kittle. The intro he's been waiting for his whole life. This conversation is brought to you by Mentos Gum. Say yes to Fresh and say yes to tight ends. Our guest today is the 6.4 tight end from the University of Iowa.

He's a seven-time pro bowler, five-time goal pro. And the co-founder of Tideon, U.E holds the $40. His franchise record for most receiving yards in a game, most receiving yards in the season, and most receptions in his season. Come on. He is a defender of Tideon. chugging beer. That's our 90%

Please welcome the people's tight end. George Kiddell! There we go. Let's fucking go. There we go. I need it again. Wow. I'm sweating.

I don't know if you guys are. That felt great. I was just as good as I expected it to be. Thank you. Perfect. I gave it my all, George. First question out of the gate. I have to ask you this.

You are. are the people's tight end. You are the founder of tight end you. Yes. Is Travis Kelsey a tight end? Yeah. All right, there we go. Easy.

It is settled. The cool thing about tight end has played a bunch of different ways. That's the cool thing about it. Oh, yeah. So he just plays his way the best, probably of all time. Thank you for saying it. As nice as you can say it right there. Just because you're not front side, outside zone, 24-7, like other offenses,

you still do what you're supposed to. to do at a high level. So it is what it is. I might have to adapt and start changing my ways. My ways are not working as well as I wanted to last year. So always evolving too, always evolving too. Just go back to what you're doing at Cincinnati and just hitting people. Hey. Let's fucking go, man.

I'm going to have to gain 20 more pounds. I don't know if those AC joints are holding up to that. How is rehab going? George, I know all these, how's everything going? Rehab's going great. I am, I got a, you know, like the Alter G treadmills that are like the anti-gravity stuff. Hell yeah. So I got.

I love those. I'm at 100% body weight going at 9 miles an hour jogging. So I think I'm ahead of schedule. Fuck yeah. We just started our jumping series doing some, you know, 1080 walks, some marching stuff. So we're out. I was in cleats for the first time yesterday. So, hey, we're back on the field, baby.

Yeah. So I'm pumped. Fuck yeah. We're excited about it. Fuck, yeah, man. All good news. football is just so much better when we got fucking 8-5 out there, fucking scoring tennies, man. Yes, lots of touchdowns.

Let's just do that boat this year, Traff, please. Come on. There you go. Lots and lots of tight end. The year was it where it felt like every tight end on national tight end day had like a reception tight end. Was it the first one? The first one was really good.

And I think it was 2023 because that national tight ends day was on my birthday. I had three touchdowns against the Cowboys or something like that. And I literally saw someone. I was in an airport in Vancouver and I'm sitting there and a guy walks up and he goes, hey, can I show you this? It's his bet slip from that National Titans Day. And I scored it in the night game.

And he put like $500 down. He won like $35,000. Fuck. Yes. George. I was like, yes, yes. So he bought me a beer to repay me. I said, thank you.

We're even. Yeah, we're even. That's a taste. That's a tasty beverage right there. That's a tasty beverage. pretty happy. Dude, you, you've been rehabbing your ass off. We all know that, but it hasn't stopped you from get out on the golf course. We had some fun out in Bandon. You've been seen all over the place with your shirt off on some courses. What establishment is this allowed at? Cabo.

Cabo. Ah, yes. Well, there you go. Cabo is let you do it all. Let's do what you want to do. The bandit thing was fun because I was told that as soon as I got out of surgery, my Achilles, Eletrosch walks out to me and the surgeon. My first question was, can I golf at the end of March. I'm going to Band of Dunes with the boys. And he said, yes, absolutely. And I was like, I'm good. I don't remember asking him that. That's what player told me that I asked that question. I was like, that's fantastic. And we did it. Six rounds and four days, boys. That was a great time. We got pretty lucky. Yeah, we got lucky. But George, you were playing some pretty good golf. I had some good golf. I had a great round. I shot an 81 on the first day, which was diabolical.

And then I was like, I was like high 80s, most of the rounds. But the third. 30, like, we did two days of 36 holes, and I think those, those crushed the group. Oh, dude, walking, at the rate of the drinking rate and the walking rate, uh, and the swinging rate into the wind, that kind of caught up to us after a few days. We, we, we, I think everybody the last day was not golfing at a high level. Just like, woke up like, what the fuck are we doing? Some decely early tea times? That was a great time.

Where would you go for another good golf trip? I will recommend for sure. I went to Ireland last year for the Steelers game out in Dublin. Steelers, Vikings and played a bunch of courses out there. Absolutely. I highly recommend Ireland. I've heard Scotland, all that UK area. I think that that's one that I would love to do personally more.

There's that northeast though. I think right now, like around the Hamptons, while New York is beautiful, I think there's like five, six, seven courses, kind of all within like a drive. That can be pretty fun. I would do that. National, Sabonic, Shinnecock is having the U.S. open this year.

Oh, yeah. The bridge. Yeah, there's a bunch of great golf courses up there. Because for the most part, we're working. The best time of the best time to golf up there is usually now, either the heart of the offseason where you're, you're trying to like enjoy the last bit of break with everybody. Or it's when the season ramps up in August and all that stuff.

But there's great golf up in the Northeast. Yeah, one of these days. Let's make a trip. Let's make a trip, boys. You have a New Heights golf tournament. I'll be there. Dude, I don't know why we haven't thought of that, Triff. I think we have actually thought of that.

We've talked about it. You wanted to go straight PGA. You wanted to take it to the most official golf tournament ever. But you're right. When time is right, that's definitely something we got to put on the schedule. You were not only seen golfing. You were seen at a Thunder game. I was.

Absolutely. Apparently a lot of people don't know you're from Oklahoma. So this was a learning experience. for the internet. It is. It was. I went to high school in Oklahoma for three years. So it's like I went to I got to see James Harden, Russell Westbrook, Katie,

Nick Collison, Serge Abaka, like in the prime. And so I went to so many games. I feel like, why are you a Thunder fan? I'm like, I went to a ton of games for over the course of three years. And it was fantastic. I got to see Kobe play down there. I got to see, well, yeah, God. I got to see the Spurs and Tim Duncan down there. It was so sick. So like I went to so many games.

So, like, I've been a Thunder fan since like 2010. My Bay Area fans are not fans of the fact that I like the Thunder. I get a lot of crap for that. Yeah. There's nothing worse than getting caught out on Twitter or X-Man, that you're a bandwagon guy or that you're not a loyal fan. I think it's actually my last tweet ever is me trying to defend my fandom of the Guardians, who I now am a proud owner of.

That's right. That's sick. It was definitely not my most best way to handle it. situation, but you handled it perfectly. Can you chill? Can you just fucking chill? Yeah, just chill out, man. I can stop that big of a deal.

Were you close to going to Oklahoma? Was it obvious going to Iowa? Was that ever a contentious thing? Oh, I had a preferred walk-on spot. In high school, I was 6'1, 180 pounds. So not a lot. I don't think the Oklahoma was looking at at that point. I don't think I mean, Iowa's no slouch.

I mean, what are we talking about? Well, this was, I mean, this was 2012, and I think what, Trent Williams just got done playing at Oklahoma. They were just all in the BCS championship all the time. So I didn't really fit that quota. But my dad was a coach there. My dad was a coach there. It did always seem like Oklahoma back then had like the biggest fucking freak of

natures that you had ever. I was not a freak. No. Oh, who was the fucking tight end, man, Gresham. Gresham. Germain Gresham. So sick. Oh, my fucking God.

We played him in 2008, I think, not eight maybe. and it was Phil Lodholt, Trent Williams, Gresham, like the entire line, six out of five of their linemen were drafted in the NFL that year. So, it was crazy. Made no sense. Actually, I was so, in 2010, I was still,

it was right before I transferred to Oklahoma. My dad went to college with Bob Stoops, so he would always let us come down in Oklahoma games. And I got to go to the El Paso Sun Bowl, Oklahoma, because that was a year that they had San Bradford, Trent Williams, Gerald McCoy, but they all got hurt.

Oh, yeah. So he kind of lost some games. Yeah. It was El Paso Sunball versus Stanford where they had Toby Gerhardt. And so I got to watch, oh, you play now. Oh, I was on the sideline hanging out with Trent Williams and Jermaine Gresham for like the entire game. It's like, uh, sophomore in high school. I'll never forget this.

It was one of the first thing that told Trent Williams when we got him in 2020. I was like, too, we hung out like 10 years ago. He had no idea, no memory. Zero memory of it. Yeah. I have the same, fucking, I have the same type of memory with my guy Chad Henney. My high school coach just happened to know the QB coach up in Michigan. And I sat in meetings with him and everything.

Like it was him. Shout out to Ryan Mallet, RIP Ryan Malatt. But it was those two and like five other QBs. And I'm sitting in there listening to them basically speak Chinese because it was a form of an offense that I had never heard in my life. It was basically double post to Mario Manningham every single play. And I told Chad this story back in, I think, 2017-18 when he uh when he joined us man he had no fuck he said oh yeah we used to we used to try

and play catch with those dudes and just watch ryan just fucking rip a hundred mile and i were bullets at their face right now was at my uh exos when i was training for the combine and so we would do the uh the gauntlet bro and he would just stand there he was huge but he'd be the last quarterback and he would throw it as far as he could at your face and i don't know if anybody ever got a pass from him i was like dude you just made it a little easy He goes, no, this is with a league cycle. I was like, all right, man, sounds good. I didn't know any better.

Fucking gauntlet. Dude, I would love to do that. Let me go through it as a tight end. I feel like I could have played tight end in another era, Travis. No? Well, like George said, you know, you can play tight end your own way. And hopefully a team picks you up. What's it, uh, freaking Washington from, uh, Steelers?

Just be straight fucking meathead blocking. I don't know, man. They, they need to keep incorporating that man down the scene. He was making some fucking, he was making some fucking, he was making some. some fucking plays. He had some sick plays last year. There was a play he broke like four tackles and it took three guys to tackle. I was like, oh my God. He was on someone else's podcast and he said he weighed 320 or something like that. I was like, goodness. There's no way. 320? He's enormous, Travis. Holy

He's one of the biggest people I've ever seen. I listen, I get up to like two high 260s and I'm like I need to get down. There's no way I can play this position like that. This dude is just rumbling and bumlooning everybody. That was pretty. His highlights are fun to watch. Well, we had your back at OTAs. You were talking about being in the Ultra G. We also got you pushing a sled looking great. Other pictures out of OTAs, Mike Evans is now in a San Francisco uniform.

How's he look to you? How's Mike looking? Well, we had a red zone period yesterday, and I'm pretty sure he had five touchdowns. So that's a highlight. Yeah. Purdy getting some good use out of the big guy, man. I love it. One thing that I was talking to Purdy about last, a couple days ago, was that

this is our first like veteran wide receiver since we had Emmanuel Sanders in 2019. Like I had Debo and I at you, but like they were both like years one through four, you know, D was like year five. But like Mike Evans is a guy like just watching him and his saviness. Like he had a, you know, you know like the concept like you covers here in the red zone. One guy has a corner. The other guy has like the now right underneath it. And the way he sets it up versus a guy without like his guy has outside leverage,

the way he sets it up and then just gets wide open. And I'm just like, da. So it's so fun to watch. just so savvy catches everything runs great routes gives great effort I'm all in on Mike Evans also hit some TV too

Harry Potter enthusiast loves Harry Potter more than anything really what house is he was gonna say I haven't gotten to that with him but he's a he likes trivia like he's read all the books countless times and so he wants you to hit him with trivia

that he doesn't think that he will know he'll just walk up to you and he'll just ask you around a trivia question like who is who is the potions master in book three I'm like, I think it was Snape at that time. But like, that's what he just does it and he loves it. So that's been pretty fun too. I have fucking in.

So he, he's read books more than once? Yes. Damn. Some people do that. Some people do that. That's a thing. That's a thing that people do. Yeah.

If you find a book you really like, you go back and read it again. I thought it was just like if you could get through it and you were finished, like that was the finish line. You're, people actually retaining these things. actually understanding what they're, and they want to read it again? It's a new concept. It's a new concept.

It's a new concept, reading and entertaining. People are getting, people are getting smarter. Are you ready for all the traveling? The Niners got to do this year, dude? Yeah, what is it? 40,000 miles.

I can't wait. You guys are going to log the most travel miles by any team. It'll be good. You'll be as far away from the nuclear facility as possible, whatever that thing is next to the power plant. You just got, hey, look, I did see, They added, my first day back at OTA is there were actually making the power plant bigger. So, you know, good for us.

They're making it bigger. You've got to look for the positives and everything, man. So, Jason, that's a great point. You know, one thing I look at is the lights will always be on, baby. Most of our flights are four to six hours anyways. So it's just like, I know, the 15 hours is crazy. But besides that, it's like, all right, I'm going to get on the plane. I'm going to sleep.

I'm going to watch a movie, watching film. We'll be there at some. pointed is what it is. Yeah. Get a dub and on the way back, just have a good old time with the boys. Would you rather go out a week early or go out the day before the game on this 15-hour flight? I would rather go out the week early on the 15-hour. Yeah. If you're going to make me go 15 hours across the world to play one game, let me enjoy, you know, grabbing a bite to eat, hanging out with the guy. Let me build some chemistry with these guys if you're going to. So that's what I was going to say. I think the sports.

sports science guys look into like the circadian rhythms and stuff like that. Yes. So we went out to London or whatever and we stayed multiple days when we were out there. But dude, you can't replace hanging out with the guys. It's like a trip where you have to hang out together. You're going to go out to eat at dinner. It kind of gets you away from all of the other regular routine that happens at home. Yep.

And forces the team to get closer. That's why I think it's better to go out the week. I'm with you on that. And then like also, because I know there's something with like a times i mean your sleep schedule all that so it gives you a couple days to get back normal to that and also after the game i think we play on a thursday in in america so it's just like all right well we don't play it until the following sunday so we have four days before the before the next install so just bite the bullet let's go early get back sleep for the next three days go early

stay a few days yeah yeah yeah stay a few days i'm in let's say a few days for the week can we just hang for the weekend here actually bring my golf clubs who knows i heard there's some great golf out there there you go um yeah you guys got talking about australia and then mexico city uh i played in mexico city mexico city is a fun place to play we played there in 2022 it was amazing i had a great time the crowd's insane dude insane just nonstop action the entire game the entire game is going fucking nuts we got really lucky because we were the road team and we were playing the cardinals

and they were the home team. But it was like 98% Niners fans and then 2% every other team's fans. And so like in warm-ups, the camera guy, they would put on the big screen, like they put up a video of like

Kyler Murray and the whole stadium would boo. And then they would cut to like Jimmy G and the whole crowd would lose their minds. And they'd cut to JJ Watt. Everyone would boo. They'd cut to me. Everybody would cheer.

And I was like, this is not a home thing for these guys. That's so tough. No. So when the Chargers moved to L.A., it kind of was like, L.A. isn't that fan base. Yeah, they've gained some momentum now, though. Their fans are showing up. But when we played them, when we played them down in Mexico City, it was a home game for them.

Yes. For the Chargers. They were some fucking Chargers fans down there. Actually, in Mexico City going nuts. Yeah. So it was a- They're 20 minutes away from Tijuana. I mean, they got some fans.

There you go. How pumped are you? about Miles Garrett, dude. You get to play them twice? Yeah. Twice a year. Awesome. Awesome.

Honestly, my, the fuck did they get in. My only message really is like, hey, Aaron, you're enjoying retirement. Aaron Donald, you're fantastic.

You had a great career. You won your shoe bowl. You're one of the best, even the players of all time, man. Just you're good, man. You're great. Yeah.

Keep working it out. Just keep hanging out with your family. Do you can come out of retirement? any moment man both of those guys on the field is the wrong person pokes that bear man he's gonna fucking be like michael jordan in the 90s don't do it i will say like when we were playing the rams twice a year with er and donald like you get the aaron donald treatment which is like hey everything sides to him you run runs that avoid you know him you always have four hands on him so i'm not saying like they're both amazing players but you just got to do the same thing with miles you

just got to you have a miles garrar game plan and you just got to hope that no one else decided has having best game in their life. It's got to slow him down, man. Trying to slow that man down. Don't let that guy ruin the game. Because he can. He will ruin the game if you give him the opportunity. Yeah.

I mean, like, at some point, they're inevitable. But you just got to hope that those couple players aren't strip sacks or forced interception or something like that. So I'll tell you what, though, I'm going to be turning on that fucking film when, when Miles is going up against Trent, dude. That is going to be prime time action. We're going to do a lot of boots, a lot of boots, a lot of slices, a lot of A lot of chips, a lot of cracks, getting his head.

A lot of sift blocks is what it's going to be. A lot of sift blocks. Yeah, a lot of sift blocks. That's going to be our best case scenario, probably. Just get them off his seat. Yeah, yeah. Some guys are just built different, man. We had a joint practice with the Browns,

and we're walking around afterwards, and Joel Petonio stops me, and he, like, taps me. He's like, hey, points over there, and Miles is there with his shirt off. He's like, can you believe we're the same species is that's funny

no man that's very true man that guy is like the closest to an alien I've ever seen playing in the game of football like the way he bends and moves

it's just it's insane he's unreal cat like fucking reflexes yeah he's got the reflexes and then he can get to the quarterback in three steps he's slippery yeah

he's a really good player so hey what a good challenge can't wait that's the tight end mentality, man. Let's get into a little tight end you, brother. We're taping this just before Tighten U actually happens. Shout out to

Rees for making it happen for us this year and all the supporting sponsors. All the funds going to Tite and you are going to help out charities all over the place, including mine and George. But first off, can we talk about how this thing started? Please.

Get the people, get the 92%ers informed on how this thing started. I can tell you from my my end of things. I got a call from George and Craig asking me if we wanted to do a tight-in-you summit. And I was like, yeah. Yeah.

That was it. That was pretty easy. That was probably it. And then we made it happen from that point on. Rubicon did an unbelievable job of getting sponsors, getting it kind of paid for and organized for all the tight ends that come through. And they do an unbelievable job every single year. What made you

and Greg really like come together about this thing? Well, it's started with so like I live in Nashville and I was trained with like seven to 10 tight ends in the NFL. Oh, just in Nashville. And it was the end of COVID season. It was Greg's last season. He was with Seattle. And we were talking like after it was like the second or last game in the season. And he was just, I just asked him. It was like, hey, would you like come on down to Nashville? And I think he said he was going to retire. And we're just like, would you come down to Nashville? Just like, watch him film with me and the boys just so like we can take another step in our career.

because, like, you obviously know what you've been, you've been doing great for a long time. You're amazing. Like, I'd love to learn something from you. And he was like, yeah, let's talk about it after the season. So call it like February or March. And like, I call them like, hey, wouldn't you think we should do this? He was like, hey, what if we invited a couple other guys? Like, we'll get up to 20 guys.

We'll get our marketing team involved with it. Maybe like do a fun little sponsorship thing. So we like kind of pitched the idea to our marketing team. They're like, yeah, we'll give it a shot. And then as soon as we scheduled it, we went from 20 guys to, slip. I think our first year, what did we have like 50 or 60 guys? We invited 20 and then like word kind of got out and everyone was just hitting us up like, hey, I want to come. I want to come. I want to come. We're like, oh, yeah, okay, we'll do what we can. And the first year we held it at a high school

in Nashville, Lipscomb, which was fantastic. It was just a little small for us. It was great. It was great. It was really fun, very intimate. And then once we got rolling, it's just kind of been like, this is still, we're having a great time. It's an excuse to get the boys and the wives together. hang out in Nashville, drink a couple beers, play some football, learn a couple things. And like every year is just kind of elevated just a little bit more and a little bit more. And like, you know,

hey, Kyle Euse checks coming this year to teach guys that have played a little fullback. Jews. Yeah. Jews. Yeah, Ohio ball player, baby. Well,

you know, there's so many tight ends that are playing fullback these days. Like in that role where like they're either in the eye or they're bumping and all that stuff. So I thought, it might as well bring in, oh, yeah. 10-time throw bowl or Kyle Euse check pretty good at his job.

Yeah. Yeah, yeah, he'll know how to do it. Spread some whist. Yeah, so I got that, and then it'll be a good time. Yeah, man, that sounds awesome. I mean, bringing up use check, that's one thing about, like, tight-in you that I really

like appreciate that you guys are putting together because, like you just said, it feels like the tight end position is increasingly having to do more and more things in offenses. I mean, in particular, what you guys do in San Fran as the Shanahan-Cubiac-McVey-Tree continues to spread. the way you guys get to all these different personnel and formations while utilizing two tight ends, three tight ends, right? You can be in a wing set and all of a sudden in an eye set and then all of a sudden in a slot formation, go to spread.

It's the ability to mix and match yourself. And I love watching, I love the creativity, man. I love watching Use Check go in motion and really get to like a tight end wing outside zone run. But then I'm like, oh, wait, are they treating it like that? Or they treating it like a full back run? Because now George's reckless. reaching and he's letting him go if he goes inside and leaving it for use check and like that stuff is so fun to nerd out as an offense alignment it is and the stuff that you guys do

and love that you check is coming because he is a piece that I feel like is he's appreciated by all you guys I know that. Yes. And I know that he's been a pro bowl, but he's a guy, especially for that offense, I think he's been a really awesome piece. So very cool that he's going down there this year. I don't know how our offense would survive without juice because the amount of stuff that we just kind of put on his plate that is I'm just letting You know, like, if I had to do the things that Juice had to do, I would be really upset all the time. Like, there's like, hey, we're going to have you bumped and dash, and then you're going to counterback. And we need to dig out the three technique and figure it out along the way.

And also, you have to figure out the timing with the cadence and purdy, and then you're going to figure this out. And then sometimes, hey, the tackle accidentally picked up the three. So then Juice is replacing and picking up the guy he missed. Yeah. It was like, juice is really our fixer. Anything that goes wrong with the play, it's usually him fixing something. So he's an incredible football player that guys who watch them and understand football, they're like, yeah, guy's a ball player right there. Ball player.

No doubt. He knows that pretty well. Yeah, Kyle's just getting good use out of that Harvard education. That he is. And he's like, you know what? This guy's got neurons still firing. I'm going to fucking put him in a position where he's got to think a little bit. Still firing.

I like that. Juice said he's got like another 10 years in him. I was like, good for you. Easily, dude. Why? Why? Well, I guess, yeah, if you love it. Yeah, if you love it, man.

You guys having fun winning ball games, man. Do you think tight ends are finally starting to get the recognition they deserve? I think so. We're getting there. I mean, like, we're kind of finally, like, getting a little bit more, you know, money as a room. Pay? Yeah, we're getting a little bit more pay. I still think we should get more, but it is what it is.

But we're bumping that up slowly, but surely. We're getting there. And then, I mean, look at like every, like all the successful offenses, last year, everybody features multiple tight ends. I mean, like the Seahawks are in 12, 13 personnel or 22 personnel the entire time. The Rams are in 13 personnel. They're only an 11 or 13 personnel, which is pretty sick. It is crazy.

It's super sick. I mean, like, you go from having Devante Adams and Puka, then all of a sudden you have three tight ends and you're running duo. You're like, oh, hello. They do a lot of good stuff, but it's just like the creativity that teams are using these tight ends for, especially if you have one that can kind of run a route and catch a pass. I mean, that's such a dual. threat and when you have multiple on the roster you can just do so much with them that's kind of where

me and george are saying like we're starting to get a little bit of that respect from around the league but it's the it's the guys that are still doing the dirty work that aren't getting the love that they deserve you know what i mean like it's those guys like a juice like somebody that feels irreplaceable that isn't getting the respect in terms of the pay like that that we think he deserves i think it's those guys kind of you know that aren't being featured as route runners that haven't gotten that elevated of pay yet. And that's where we really think the tight end room should get that respect. Yeah, like, I mean, because like there's, there's like number three wide receivers who get,

I don't know, 30 catches a year that are getting over 20 million. Just like, I think the tight end who plays like 50 snaps a game and has one target a game, he probably deserves like at least. What are you sticking his face in the fan? But he's probably get 50 mil. Like that's just, yeah, that's my opinion. But, you know, we're working on it. But, hey, I mean, like, we had Charlie Kohler.

he just went and got paid by the Chargers for being a blocking title, which is pretty sick. And he got paid a ton of money. So, like, we're getting there. They're starting to figure out that you need a good tight end. For sure. And all, like you just said, all of the best offenses are turning in that direction, especially the ones that are coming from, you know, the Shanahan McVeigh and all those trees. And it reminds me of like the three, four defenses and how they got really good and how they

utilize their linebackers. And like, they can be in a lot of these subpersonels, they can get to a five-man front and feel good that an inside backer can hold the point at the end of the line in like 11 personnel. And they can get to six-man fronts. I remember playing in New England. They built a five-man front with a high tower and Jamie Collins. They're running all these games and making it a nightmare and six-man protection and creating all these mismatches. And you guys do the same thing in tight end.

The Rams do the same thing. When you have a guy that can be comfortable out wide and in line and in the backfield, and you can get to all of these different fronts and looks. run concepts. Yep. It's just, it's very difficult for a defense to really hone in on, oh,

what are their 12 personnel runs? What are their 11 personnel runs? How can we put, how can we fuck these guys over when they want to get into these personnel's and formations? Like, it's harder to do that when you can mix it up right before the ball snap. Those are my,

those are my favorite plays. Like when Channing comes in, like, you know, like you see like, you get a Wednesday install and you're just like, Andy was in his bag. Let's go.

Oh, yeah, that's cold, maybe. It's not like overly confusing, but there's a ton of movement. There's like a lot of weird formations. You're like, this is going to be a fun week. Hell yeah. I love it when those plans come together. When did you make the move to tight end? Was it college?

Yeah, I showed up at the University. I showed up at the University of Iowa as an athlete, and they just put me a tight end. And my first workout ever in the summer in the stadium with a bag, one of my coaches yelled at me. He goes, if you don't learn how to run block, you'll never play here. And I said, oh, dear, okay. I'll try my best. No, right. And I got to college, I was six foot two, 200 pounds.

So it took me a minute. But then I grew two inches and gained 60 pounds. And so then it worked for me. It took me a while, though. When that day happened, did you call Big Bruce, your dad? And you're like, hey, so can I actually get some of that knowledge that you were spitting everybody else? Basically, yes.

No, he was self-full. It was, I was like, I was a good athlete. I could run routes and stuff like that. But after my freshman year, they're like, hey, we might move you to lineback. And I was like, don't do it. Nah. Don't do it. I don't want to play defense.

I don't want to do it. So I stuck it out, and then I rode the bench for three years, and I finally played my fourth year college. It worked out for me. Well, if there's one college that represents tight-end you more than any other college, I mean, it is Iowa. Even in your intro, I think I was going to say, the six-four tight end out of Iowa. It was like, that could be 15 guys at this point.

What is it about Iowa that breeds tight ends? I think, like I said, the first coaching point you get is if you don't learn how to run block, you'll never play. And I think just like establishing that mindset, it automatically makes every tight end who goes through Iowa, like a two-way player. Like it makes everybody a Y. So like,

and it immediately put you into being an unselfish player. Immediately. You know what I mean? You said, like your mindset is like, what can I do for the team? It doesn't matter how many catches I have. I'm going to block my ass off as best I possibly can.

And if I occasionally get a cool pass, they'll make the most of it and I'll run. I mean, we said a freshman like, now I'm terrible with names. We had a freshman that went off in the ball game, I had like 120 yards and a touchdown. And it was like a third start of the season. So it's just like, we just get on.

And like, why I get asked. They're like, hey, well, you know, call this recruit for us. And I'm just like, sure. And hey, why should I go to Iowa? Well, every tight end since Kirk Ferrence has been head coach that started has made at least practice squad. So if you want to go to the NFL, you're like, that's a 99% chance success rate. I would just. It's crazy.

I would just take it. Isn't that insane? It's insane. Like every time that's ever like played, you have at least a shot. at a rookie mini camp. And I think they have like, what is it? It was like 15 out of 18 starters made a roster. So it's just like,

we can get you through the door, man. Yeah, that's your goal. That's a hell of a selling point right there. I think so. And it's like, yeah, hey, are we up for a national championship every single year? No,

but we're usually pretty good. We're usually, you know, up for a Big Ten championship. And we went a lot of games. And you're going to have a little, really fun time because I was a great party town. It's a great party city.

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instead of just grinding through the same old, same old. Refresh the everyday with Mentos. Say yes to Fresh with Mentos gum. Ark tight ends, QB's best friends. Yes. Yes, we are. That's easy because you're, hey, you're the blanket, man, that just keeps them warm and cozy. He's very safe.

Yep. Just right over the easiest throws, right in front of you, coach. Right in front of you. Right here. Hey, we take a hit. We get right back up. We're the guy who gets to talk to everybody. You're friends to the office line, the D line.

We're friends with everybody. So, hey, QB, just a nice little dump off. Come on. We're right here. Right here waiting on you. That's really why Jason wants to play a tight end. He wants the ball. For what?

He wants. Dude, I picked up a fumble one time and got my legs cut out, so I had no interest in having that ball in my hand. I'm very good. DB was on me so fast. I'm very good just blocking. I know what I'm good at. I averaged nine yards of pop in high school, though. That's right.

Against Northeast LEL's finest. That's right. Oh, man. Are you more excited to go out to get a night, to get a pancake at a block or a touchdown on a catch? Oh, let's see. I think at this point of my career, I'd thoroughly enjoy scoring touchdowns. It's really fun. You don't get tackled.

There's no physicality usually. Just catching a touchdown. But I say like it's, it's very satisfying to like just perfectly flat back a guy and feel his breath exhale. It's a great feeling. Oh, God. Like it's just, it's hard to beat that.

And like when you hear him like motherfucking himself that he just got pancake by a tight end, it's just, it's very rewarding. I also like, have you ever like pancakeing a DB? satisfying because like one play later they can be knifing your knees out as you're trying to catch you like a ball over the middle and so if i can get my hands on a db i've always thoroughly enjoyed that i used 11 we could fucking cut block anybody anywhere on the field man that she used to be the

fucking bath so fun catch it catch a safety coming downhill trying to catch a bubble bubble screen or something man oh man used to be my favorite i say bring those back actually i think football's more football's more dangerous when you can't cut block. I don't need blind side blocks. I don't need that stuff. But like the cuts, like, because you see them coming. So like, all you get, you just jump or you duke it. I always felt the same thing.

I think you cut block. If you want to actually eliminate head hits and like people running as full speed as possible into each other, you should want cut blocks still in the game. Like if you can't cut them, a deep, what's stopping a defensive player if if I'm trying to run through your head as hard as possible? That's how I would try and mitigate it at linebackers. Like, dude, if you want to be a. dickhead, I'll cut your legs out real quick.

Yeah. There was nothing like I got a pole next to Joe Staley and he's cutting the safety and I'm cutting a corner on the same clip. Like that's just a highlight reel that I'll never forget. I'm just like that, that's good football. Like the blue angels. Like the blue angels at the air show. There's a lot of,

there's a lot of defenses that want to cut that want to stop that cut block going across the ball to like seal the inside run. What do you want us to do? Well, first of all, what do you want to do? If you don't have that, then it really is just going to be like two Rams, budding in just destroying each other. Not safe. Outside of that, like you just said,

there are very few times that the defense event doesn't know that block is coming. If they don't, they're fucking so oblivious to like what's happening around them. That's what it is. They know it's coming. If you get your knee blowed out, I mean, dude, step to the fucking side.

I want to what you want me to do, man. Like, what are we talking about here? Just don't eat it. Like, just, I'm with you. Like, there's like, you're going to get cut. But like, 99% of the time, they see it with trying to move their feet, lower their shoulder. You see it.

And if you don't see it, you shouldn't be in the NFL. There's a Y off on the other side of the field. There's a chance he's going to slice back and cut your legs. I'm staring right at him. Yeah. Dude. Come on. I remember the first practice I ever went to,

collegiate practice I ever went to, was with Jason on a visit to the University of Pittsburgh. Old, what is it, Dave Wanstatte. and the gang. And I was just going as Jason's little brother, so I got to fucking feel cool and everything. I don't even think I was in high school yet. And the first play I saw in practice out there was,

I think it was nine on seven or some rum period. And a wide receiver came in in a sprinting motion from outside the numbers. No. No. And on the snap of the ball just absolutely sliced the D.N. and this is fucking spring ball. Just absolutely to run a fucking toss his way and just absolutely smoked his own teammate in practice.

No. Below the knees while he wasn't looking. I was like, oh my God, this is fucking college football. This shit is cut through, man. Hey, that happens to a, that's just horrible. I don't wish not upon anybody. Who thought of that play? I was like, yeah.

Holy shit. Yeah. That just ends careers immediately. Let me ask you this, though. When you made that transition to the tight end room in college, who were the tight ends that you watched? Oh, so let's see, 2012. I was a big gronk guy. I loved gronk.

I loved Antonio Gates. Still some of my favorite film to watch. I watched Jason Witten and, oh, Jordan Reed. I watched a lot of Jordan Reed because that boy was, no one could cover him. So fucking shifting, man. He was so nasty. He was it, Florida, right? He was so nasty of Florida, man.

Yeah, so I watched a lot of his tape. And then I had a CJ Fedorowitz was in my room, my freshman year. He was the big guy I went to Houston. So I thoroughly enjoyed watching him play too because he was just, he gets your hands on it and he was cooked. Did you catch Tony Mojaki at all? He was like, he was gone before. He left right before.

But I knew Tony a little bit. And then like Dallas Clark, obviously, I was a huge fan of. but no Tony Tony was a monster I cannot stand dickheads that don't wear gloves the only person that I let get away with is Vita Vaya because he was so fucking goddamn strong but no I'm all about the gloves

the guy that you had at Tita and you the few years back that I fucking loved watching the most Travis loved him too fucking Jeremy Shockey Shockey baby. God's my fucking guy he was a great time yes dude Jeremy Shockey I got to get some actual game film on Shockey

I only got the highlights. I got to see the day to the play. He was just angry. Just an angry person. Yeah. It's awesome. It's one way to play the game. I do too.

Shockey was so sick to watch. It's a sport of collisions and violence. If you're more violent than the other person, nine times out of ten, get more success. I agree. It did work. There was a guy that I played with. I've told this story before, but there's a guy that I played with who would get really

pissed off. And we went through something with Chip where like we were doing this like mental conditioning and the guy and there was like a big thing of like, hey, like don't let your emotions get too high. Then you'll start to make uncharacteristic mistakes or whatever. And I'm playing football and this guy's getting fucking all worked up. And I was like, dude, you need to calm down. Like you're, you need to freaking get back down to like here. So and he's like, fuck you. I play better mad. Right. And I was like two years afterwards, the guy was already gone. And. I'm fucking playing a game. I get fucking pissed.

And I go on like a terror for like an entire quarter where I am just fuck, feel like I am fucking killing people. Yes. I don't know what it was my nervous system, which is on fire. And I shot that guy text later that day. And I was like, you're right. I'm way better when I play pissed off. Yes.

Did he remember? Did he remember it? He for sure did. Yeah. He was like, I told you. I told you. If you hit that right level of anger, it's like anger plus flow state. It's really hard to beat a person like that.

Aeronado constantly lives in that state. Dude, he was always just angry. I'm like, Aaron, what the fuck are you mad about? I didn't do anything, man. I'm just trying to block. Easy, big guy. We're just having a good time, right? But there is absolutely, there is absolutely something that happens, like, from like a chemical standpoint

where when you get pissed off, like your nerves just fire better. Like, I don't know what it is. I'm just, like, wired. You're wired. But then there is, like, a down. You can't go too high because then. it just crashes hard. It's hard.

It's hard to stay angry for four quarters. Yeah. Got to bottle that thing up. It's basically smelling salts. It's what to say. They definitely make some substances. Chase, you did, you made a great point the other day. You were talking about like too many games being played on too many days.

And between that and then I think you might have mentioned about 18 games. But it was funny because I had to do, I was doing a media thing. And I did an interview like the same day that you did that. And I got asked the same question. question. We said basically the same thing. But then your clip came out and I was like, ah, I'm glad to see somebody smart with most of his brain left is making the same comments, but I know. It makes me happy. I don't know that I got much brain left. But yeah, we're, we can tag team that one, baby.

I just, yeah, football on Wednesdays and Fridays and Saturdays just doesn't make sense to me anymore. Yeah. You know, we, we've already acknowledged like Monday was grandfathered in years ago. Thursday, it feels like that was another stretch. once you start doing it too much, it's like, dude, you can't, it loses its special, like, kind of magic when it's spread out over that many days. It feels like, it just feels weird. Like, before Thursday night football came up, like the Thanksgiving Thursday, that was like the coolest Thursday of the year. It was awesome. So you had two football games on Thursday, and you're just like, oh, my God.

It was so sick. I just remember as a kid, like, you'd wait all week for Sunday and then you get Monday night football. And it was just such a pleasure. But I will say I love Thursday's and I games, huge fan, especially if you love them. Like, if you know the offense, you don't have to study very much, great time. Yeah, as a rookie, terrible, horrible nightmares. Very unprepared. As a veteran player.

Absolutely chaos. Yeah, it's just chaos. It's like, how do you expect this guy to just learn this hunter play install? He's not going to. He's just not going to. We're going to get into our last segment here, get you in and out of this thing, man. We appreciate the time so far. but we got to get into a little bit of that.

We got to ask. You can tell us to fuck off and you don't have to answer at all. Okay, fuck off. We got to ask. Fuck off. No, no, no, no, no. Real quick, real quick. Just what?

Just hear one out. Here one. Oh, okay. I thought I was supposed to say fuck off. That's on me. Nice. What was your draft day like? Did Shanahan make you do puzzles?

Oh, no. I thought I was going to get drafted by the Seahawks because the Seahawks is called my agent. And they're like, hey, we're going to draft George with the next pick. And then all of a sudden, my phone is ringing from Santa Clara and it was John Lynch and Kyle Shanahan. And I was like, sick. This is awesome. You got a fucking call from a legend on the field and a fucking son of another

legend that then became another legend. Nice. That's pretty fucking sweet. That was cool. No. So when Kyle was in Washington, the puzzles question came up because his dad had us do some like weird psychological like puzzle game with I believe who was the team. therapist at the time.

That's sick. But I don't remember things very well back then. But I remember doing the fucking puzzle and being like, damn, this is like kind of like a one-off, like none of the other teams are asking me to do this little fucking puzzle. I did not do a puzzle. No puzzle. I didn't even meet with the Niners. Like I was one of those guys at the combine.

I flipped over my card, zero in-person meetings. I was like, sick. Perfect. Just say, just a stereotypical titan from Iowa. They don't need to learn anything about me. We know exactly what we're getting. He's the guy that loves football. You're going to give great energy.

That's all you got. So, yeah, we don't need a waste our time with this guy. Like, my, who was I had, uh, one of my roommates for it, um, what was his name, D.D. Westbrook. He was watching here from Oklahoma, I think. He's, he had like 32 meetings in the three days that way. I was like, I have zero. Have fun, man.

I have so much free time. It was sick. All right, next question. Here we go. Next question. What do you guys? Grog. Grog put you on his list of top four tight ends currently in the NFL.

Thank you. He's Mount Rushmore. What is the George Kittle, Mount Rushmore of tight ends? Currently right now or all time? Let's just go all time. Let's go all time. Okay, because I'm going to get yelled at for not saying Mike Dicca, but I didn't watch Mike Dicca play.

So I think that's not very fair. I was born in 1993, okay? So of everybody you saw that you've personally seen play, who is your Mount Rushmore of tight ends? Okay, let's go that I've personally seen play, who I think are the best Titans to do it. Let's see. I'm going to go two of my favorite tight ends.

I got Travis, I got Grunk, and then I'm going to go Tony G. Because I thought he was just so fucking sick and slippery and awesome. And also I've seen so many of his highlight rules. And then for my personal fourth, I'm going to go Dallas Clark because he's my Iowa guy. Alice Clark. Fuck, yes.

Because the Q's, I remember he had a playoff stat where him and Peyton Manning had like 54 first downs in a row together or something crazy like that. And I was like, that's, that makes you a great football player, man. You're reliable when your fucking team needs to be reliable. And I'm also just, I'm a homer for Iowa tight ends. Sorry. Understandable. Understandable.

Good job not putting yourself on, uh, chill out, chill out, chill out, chill out. He hasn't seen himself late. He is himself. I saw Travis do that.

Smart move, man. Smart move. Well, when I was a kid, I went and saw what Mount Rushmore look like, and I thought it wanted to be on Mount Rushmore one day. So I thought,

why not put myself on it? What I put myself on it? As a fellow NFL podcaster, which is harder, hosting a podcast, uh, with your brother or your wife? I think with your brother, because you guys will just talk shit to each other.

Like, I will not talk shit to my wife. She will whip my ass. Claire will be the shit. To be fair, Jason will whip my ass, but we do most of these remote. Yeah. So, yeah, but like, I'm doing everything I can to make sure she has the best time possible. Like, you guys can chirp each other and you don't get to, like, you don't get offended too really.

I'm terrified to say the wrong thing. And then once the camera gets off, I'm chatting. I know all about that. What was that you said? Oh, yeah, dude, your wife beats your ass all the time, Jason. I know that. 100% of you. I had a golf out of yesterday, and we brought hecklers around to heckle the guys are the hitting balls.

And the main heckle for me was like, your wife has your balls, Kelsey. I'm like, you guys have no idea how accurate that is. She does. She does. She has all of them. She has everything. No argument. You got me there, man.

Shout out to Kittle Things. Everybody go check out Kittal Things on YouTube wherever you get your podcast. And Jason isn't a fan of made-up holidays, but please let them know. Is National Tight-end Day a real holiday? It's everybody's favorite holiday, specifically Jason's wife. Everyone's favorite. And so that means, Jason, you can no longer refute this. Okay.

Well, it's, it's, it's natural. It's National Tight-Ns Day. And then it's the Fourth of July. And then Christmas is in here somewhere, too. I love the Fourth of July. It's one of my favorites. I don't want to say it's underrated, but it kind of is. Because I think a lot of times you think of like Christmas and you.

Halloween. Yeah. No. Fourth of the Hall. Dude, being outside celebrating America, drinking and barbecueing. The weather is great. It's an all-timer. It is so good.

Yeah. We always do. We call it, we call, what is it, the Zinja Warrior Challenge. That's what we have at my buddy Rob Tanya's house. Oh, what's this? I'm very intrigued. All right. So it's an obstacle course.

It's an obstacle course. The pool's probably like 20 foot by 10 foot rectangle with a basketball hoop. It starts off with Flip Cup. So you have a partner too. So it'd be like you and Travis versus me and Rob. You start with Flip Cup, one person. So we flip cup. And once as soon as you hit it, you have to hit a shot.

and the hoops on the other corner. So it's like a three-point shot. As soon as you hit the shot, you dive in and you have to swim to the other side, grab a different basketball and dunk it. As soon as you dunk, your partner is sitting there in a frisbee golf, and he has a flip cup and then toss a frisbee golf in. While you, after you made your shot, you're going to get up and run to another station. As soon as he hits his frisbee golf, you do another flip cup.

And then you have like one of those plastic golf ball things that hit me like the little red baskets. So you have to hit you, do chip until you hit. And as soon as you hit, then your guy, has another flip cup, you've got a different station, and you're doing a one shot beer pong with one cup remaining, and you shoot until you hit, and as soon as you hit it, you have to, you have to dive into the pool, and whoever touches the water first wins. And it has been, we've done it for two years in a row, and it is me and Robin one back-to-back years, but it is amazing. We have so much fun. That sounds awesome. Jason, we might have to get in on this, dude.

Yeah. Bertie played last year. So we do like a round Robin to then do seedings, and Purdy was the number one seed and we beat him in the second round fucking idiot ha ha ha ha loser so yeah 4th of July holiday it's national pident's day as you ask is a holiday

fuck you jason all right fair god damn it all right do you still have the fuck dallas t-shirt more importantly i wore for my uh photoshoot yesterday for media day fuck yeah oh still got it's in my locker every day every day it's in my locker

what was the inspiration behind the fuck dallas just to rub it in no it was so Like since I was like since I got drafted the 49ers, like they when Shanahan and Lynch first got there, they were big on like, they wanted people to understand like the history of the nineers and like what the nineers were before that because they were pretty bad for like several years before we got there. And so we were just like, so like I learned the history of the nineers and like one of the images that was shown to us was Gary Palmer. He was a linebacker and he was wearing this fucked house t-shirt pregame of a game versus Dallas. And I was like at some point in my career, I want to do that.

And so I've had the phone, the photo saved to my phone for like, I think nine years. And then I finally just got the balls to do it. And so I bought it one for the entire tight room. I think it was 2020. I think it was 2020. I think it was 20, three season. And I bought for the whole tight in room. I was the only one who wore it.

But, um, you know what? I was like, fuck it. I'm going to pull this bad boy out tonight. And it worked. And I'm fucking. I'm really glad I did it. Um, it was really fun. But like, it's just like the photo of Gary Palmer doing it too.

He's just like your old school classic white lineback. like from the 90s just yoked out of his mind thick neck probably a little juiced up yeah yeah but yeah so Gary he was my inspiration and then I'm pretty sure it was totally random I ran into his daughter like on an elevator

yeah there it is let's go yeah that's a good photo is that a great photo the mustache oh yeah so I saw that and I was like I'm gonna do that someday look at those fucking pads holy fuck do you imagine he hit by that guy horrible

Yeah, so he inspired me. We got another picture of you of one of the best pictures I've ever seen in football is you diving for a touchdown that won the 2025 photo of the year for the NFL. Have you framed this photo yet? So what's cool is our team photographer, he does these big black and white, like glass photos that have a light switch behind them. And when you turn them on, like only the color red pops up. So whether it's your jersey.

blood, like whatever, but it's only like the color of your... The fans in the background. Yeah, that's the only that pops up. And so I have one of those. It's at my barn, they're my workout facility. So I got that one made. Fuck, yeah. That one's sick.

It's so badass. I thoroughly enjoyed that one. What's more masculine? Pancake blocking a defender or killing a spider for your wife? Spider for your wife. Easy, right? Easy. Gosh.

Did you know you were going to go viral when you tweeted that out? You know, it was, I don't know what it was. All right. Do you guys remember, okay, when Andrew Luck played, there was a Twitter account that came out called, like, Captain Andrew Luck. And he, like, wrote, he talked in, like, letters to his mom during the Civil War. Do you guys remember this Twitter account? It's, it's, I was obsessed with this thing.

This is hilarious. But, like, anytime that he'd be like, dearest mother, the Panthers tried to invade, and we held them off as I attacked and threw for 300 yards and two touchdowns. I will see you come Christmas. And it's like, I don't know what. I was thinking about that in the morning I drive to work. And I was like, I'm going to try to do something like this. And so then I just kind of wrote a fun little tweet.

And then I got a carrot package from PETA say, don't kill spiders. And their CEO roasted me. But I was like, yeah, I'm going to choose my wife's love over that. Sorry. Yeah. There you go. All right. We got a last one here.

Last one. Okay. Welcome to the NFL moment. You want my off the field one or on the field one? We can do both. We can do both. All right. You can cut this if it's not PG enough.

All right. So my rookie year during OTAs, my rookie year in OTAs on Thursdays, because, like, you know your rookie year, like you're not busy at all, so you're there for every weekend. Like, you're not doing shit. So, like, I was there every weekend. And our equipment managers, shout out for our equipment staff. They're my favorite people. But they were a part of a softball league.

And so they played every Thursday night. And so, like, there would be anywhere from five of us to 15 of us would go. to every single softball game on Thursday nights. That's hilarious. But the best part was was Joe Staley went to every single one. And he's like the 13, the 10 year vet, like the guy. He's awesome. And like I had like three interactions with Joe say at this point.

So I was just trying not to piss him off because he was terrifying to me. And as soon as a softball game, we go to this bar called cartoons and they had karaoke on Thursday nights. And so then we'd go straight from there with all the equipment staff and we go to cartoons and we would be belt and karaoke and i was like you know joe staley is a 10 out of 10 karaoke star he knows every song he's really oh he's incredible they sold it as a package that you can buy it's like yeah see see karaoke with joe it's a awesome absolute monster i didn't know this oh yeah he can sing it's a performer he gets a whole crowd and do like he knows what he's doing anyway so we're at this bar

we're having a good time i go to the bathroom and it's like it's one of those older college bar vibes and so like the bathroom. It's exactly what you think it looks like, like a rusty door that doesn't really close, all that stuff. So like I'm peeing in the toilet in the stall. And there's like another rookie in there in the other stall. And I just hear the door gets kicked open. And then Joe Steris goes,

what do you guys got to lose? I got to go. And I'm like, and he literally he just takes the door off into my stall. And he goes, kill. He's either he was killed, get out or move over. And I said, I'll move over Mr. Joe Staley. And so that was my, I was like, oh, I think he likes me.

So that was, and it gets a totally normal thing as a guy for everybody listening. That's a totally normal thing. No, it's not about that. So I was terrific. That was like my second week on the Niners. And so I was pretty happy about that one. On the field, my first game ever as a rookie was against the Panthers when they had Cam Newton, Greg Olson, Chris McAfre's a rookie, and Julius Peppers.

And so, like, I go off my first warm-up ever in Levi's Stadium. him and Cam Newton's just standing in our end zone, like in our fucking tunnel. And he's 6.6.250. I'm just like, I'm like, buddy. That motherfucker is enormous impact. He is what, like, dude, like we, I play, I'm supposed to block for guys like you. And you could just kill me. And so that freaked me out.

And then like my first, I think one of my, it's like one of my first three plays out of one-on-one pass bro against Julius Peppers. And all I was trying to do was not piss him off because he had like the visor. Good luck. everything. Oh, yeah. Very intimidating. Oh, I was just sitting there. He's like, talk like that deep voice. Julius Pepper. You do. It's so scary.

I had my first play against him, I had to cut him off, and he like just grabbed me and threw me to the ground. I was like, okay. All right, sure. And then I had a one-to-one pass row from him, and I blocked him, actually. And as like the plays going on, I'm just like, I played with you in Madden 2006. This is insane. And I'm just sitting there just, trying not to shit my pants because I couldn't believe

I was playing in the NFL. It was, but that was pretty fun. Those are some good ones. Those are some great ones. Some of my favorite ones, dude. God damn, that's hilarious. I think,

yeah, you should ask for an off-the-field welcome the NFL moment because I like the off-the-field because you're right. It's very unique. Like, I think most rookie wide receivers

would tell you that it's their rookie dinner because that's always outrageously expensive. But, you know, I think other guys would have some pretty good stories. Dude, thank you so much for the time,

the stories. Thank you for being the people's tight end and being the front rudder for the position, dog. We fucking love you, bro. And good luck this year. Don't keep getting healthy. And we'll see you out on the gridiron, brother. I'm just happy. I finally got to be a part of the podcast.

It's only been like three years. Come on, man. It's been far too long, man. Fuck. I'm the words I'm sending out. Travis is like, oh, embarrasses, ask my friends. You're not. Yeah.

We all love you. It's okay. You're very lovable. You guys are fantastic. I'll see you guys soon. All right. Thank you to George Kittle once again. Did not disappoint.

He peep. Or hey, dude, I'll tell you what. The guy's just fucking electric, man. He really is. He can tell the story with, like, with the best of him. He remembers every fucking thing that happens, which is a talent with how much that guy fucking blocks in the NFL. It is.

I really enjoyed, you can tell he is just genuinely a fan of football. And he comes across that way in the way he plays the game. He comes across that way in the energy and excitement. he goes about everything with. But just, you know, bringing up the, like, I can't remember the guy's name that had the fuck Dallas shirt on the beginning, how big of a fan he was a guy

when he first came into the league with his welcome to the NFL moment. You could tell you just loves football. And dude, there's just something about talking of football guys that love the sport, love being around other football guys, and George is one of the best football players of our generation.

Undeniable. And a guy that loves the game. So very much enjoyed talking to you, George. Once again, that conversation is brought to you by Mentos Gum. Thank you to our sponsor, Colgate Total. Remember when we were younger and thought stretching was optional? Yeah. Now, if I don't stretch, I'm feeling like something's going to pull walking to the fridge.

That's right. Whether it's stretching before a big game or, you know, just hitting the golf course or, you know, stretching is huge for preventing injuries. Exactly. You do a little up front and you save yourself a big problem later. You know who else is being on prevention? Who? Colgate Toto! Did you just go from like stretching and being an athlete to toothpaste?

I did. I did. Yes, I did. And it's not just toothpaste. Travis, it's a whole system. Toothpaste, mouthwash, even a special toothbrush. Yeah. Full dental hygiene sounds like a whole game plan for your mouth.

And the system prevents stuff like cavities. That's right. Cavities for sure. And also gingivitis, it helps prevent oral health problems like these before they even start. When you use it. Twice a day. Ooh, sounds pretty sweet. I'm locked in on this.

It's way better to prevent the problem than try to fix it later. That's right. And that's exactly what Colgate Total does. Get Colgate Total on Amazon today. Thank you to our sponsor Allstate. Checking Allstate first. That could save you hundreds on car insurance. Not checking who's on the group text before hitting send?

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Allstate North America Insurance Co. And affiliates, Northbrook, Illinois. Now that that is in the books, though, we will get to perhaps the next generation's greatest tight end. Let's get in some of the tight end you recap. And we're going to see what the interns did down in Nashville for tight end you. Let's see what the boys got up to down. there in Nashville.

This tight-in-you recap is brought to you by Reese's. That's right, boys. We tied in-U'd. We tied-in-U'd. And I came back with the shiny shirt that I will ever own. We tied-in-yud. Thank you to our friends at Reese's. We tied-in-you.

Jake, how was it? How would you describe? It was our first time there. How would you describe your first time at Titan U? Tide-N-U is awesome, man. It's so much. It's sick. I don't let anybody lie to you.

It is a blast. I totally understand why they do it. I get it. Making it bigger and bigger every year. I understand. I understand why it grows every year. I understand why people keep going. I get it now.

I've been, people have asked me like, how was it? And I keep describing it as like, have you ever seen when they have like gold retriever beach days? And they just unleash. They're like, ball,

ball, water, ball, sand, dig a hole. Like that is every dude's personality there. And it's so much fun to hang out with them. It was so cool. And as two of the least tight end people on the planet to, Let's let's, I'm, you're not. I'm a glue guy.

I'm a glue guy. No, no. Personality is there. The physical traits are not. Yes, in terms of just physically size and shape. Mentality wise, I'm, I'm there. But no, I'm not blocking. We're tight ends at heart, but we're not tight ends on the field.

To be included in something like that was like so insanely special. And it was just, it was, it was awesome from from day one. Should we go through day by day? Should we go? Let's go. Chronologically, chronologically. Chronologically. How do, how do the guys.

is usually podcast for this long. Jesus Christ, it's hard. It's crazy. I hate talking. We got there. We got invited to a gifting suite, which just like that sentence coming out of my mouth is unbelievable. We don't belong at a gifting suite.

I mean, very clear to you. I've never heard those words before. They're like, do you want to see the Reese's wall? And I'm like, hell yeah, I want to see the Reese's wall. Absolutely. More reases than I've ever seen in my entire life, every variety. And you have to like pick the amount that doesn't make you seem insane. So we took like a tasteful amount of Reese's off the Reese's wall, which I still have a lot of

them, but dude, I am flying through the Reese's. It is the, the family back home is, is doing well with the Reese. I'm saving them. I ran out of sticks already and I'm kind of pissed at myself, but that was a decision. I made it like 2 a.m. The take fives did not make it off the plane. We did the Reese's Gifting Suite on the first day. Second day was on the field with everybody, which it's like one thing to watch an NFL game.

It's another to be like field level with these like giants as they run and cut and move and jump. And you realize, oh, they're like different than us. you get it. Like you're like, oh, these guys are all freaks. And we did promise that we would try and do the gauntlet. We didn't get the opportunity to do the gauntlet. But as some of you may have seen on the internet already, we did try several drills. We did the reaction, which is way harder than it looks. It's so hard.

Don't love a lot of the feedback we got on that. Be very clear. Don't love a lot of comments. We can knock that off. That's bullying. Don't love that. I'm sorry I don't have an eight foot wingspan. Yeah.

Sorry I'm not Kyle Pitts. Like, I'm sorry. If I was, do you think I'd be a podcast intern? No, thank you. I think we did above average. Well, we did it later with Jason and Kylie down at the shore, and they did worse than us. Exactly. There you go.

Especially Kylie. Especially Kylie. Sorry, Kylie. She went over. I can't believe you posted that. You're kind of a dick. It's just me doing my job. Watching them do stuff on the field was great.

Watching them do drills, watching them talk through things like footwork and hip placement. The little minute details that I don't think you kind of grasp when you watch an NFL game, it's very fun to hear them all talk about that in person. I will say Dallas Clark might have a lot of reps left in him. Dallas Clark could get out there. That was eye opening. He could probably start for like at least 10 teams right now. He looked great.

And I was having a blast watching him. It took us like a little while to figure out who he was because who's that really in shape guy. Yeah. Like he's just who's the guy leading all the drills? Yeah. Who's the fastest guy out there? No way.

That's Dallas Clark. Excuse me. He's retired for how long? Jake, who was your, who was your favorite? dude. It was a dude heavy event. Who's your who was your favorite dude at tight and you? So I mean, it was really cool getting to like, like you said, see all these guys on the field. Got up. I'll work up to it, but it would feel weird not to start with some of the tight ends. Go ahead. First off, Greg and George, like, Greg is just the nicest dude on the planet.

The nicest human being. And the thing Greg kept doing was showing up places where we needed help. And Greg would just appear out of nowhere. Like, first day, he's like, you guys looking for the if things sweet. We're like, yes, Greg Olson, we are. If you needed a direction, Greg Olson had you. He's like, it's up on the eighth floor. Enjoy yourselves. And we're like, thanks, Greg. And then the next day, we were like wandering around trying to find where we go at the concert. And he's like, are you guys looking for the front of the stage? Which you go on to is head to those double doors. Hang a left. When you see the bar go right. And it's going to be

past another little gate on your on your other right. And we're like, Jesus, Greg, can you be around me at all times? He was so awesome. He's one of my MVP of the week. Yeah. George, another MVP. George. Life of the party everywhere. You just, you guys all just watch the George interview. So George, like, he's just like that at all times. He is like at a 12 and you can't help but be there with him. It's the best energy. George, also MVP.

My dude of the week and it's weird, it's not a tight end, but it's Mac Jones. Mac Jones. Dude of the week, Mac Jones. Mac Jones was having the most fun out of anyone at Tidein. You was Mac. Like, you've seen the videos. That man is. having a blast, just throwing the ball to these guys.

He was just out there living his best life, hanging out with the boys. Like, you know, when when I saw Mack Jones, it made me realize like, oh, the dude with the cigar at Alabama, like, he is just a guy's guy. And like, you should, it should have been obvious, but it became more obvious once we got to, like, see him in his element. He was awesome. I get it. I get it now, Mac Jones. I totally get it now. Mac Jones. rules. Yeah, Mac Jones due to the week, probably. Like also, well, okay, Travis was cool. It's cool seeing Travis. That's our work friend. We see him all time. Mac Jones was a delight.

An absolute delight. In factious energy on Mac Jones. If we're going to talk about Travis, the coolest thing about this year's tight end you was it was the first year of like open practice where the public could come out and set. And, you know, obviously there's a lot of support for George. You've, you know, got family in Nashville and all that stuff. But the 92 percenters show it out. 82 percenters and chief fans there. Had it. That one lady had his rookie card to sign. That one lady got him to sign the rookie card.

She was like, this is all I want. She was like, can he sign nope on this? And I think he just signed it. But she was like, is it okay if I ask? I'm like, you can ask. I have no idea how I was going to. Historically, that card has not been beloved on this podcast, but go for it. It was really cool to see all the 92 percenters out there who were like,

saying hi to us, which is always like insane. I got a fresh crop of bracelets. Got a fresh crop. Thank you. Everybody who has. handed me one. I took them. They're home with me. I'll figure out what I'm doing with them. But always nice to get a fresh supply of friendship bracelets. And also like seeing Travis in his element, you mentioned this earlier, but we got to see him do like the breakdown where he was talking about.

His thing was like, you know, there was the film room clip that came out later, which we didn't get to see because that was like when they were all in the classroom. We got to go on the field. We got to get in the film. We got to break down some tape. But seeing him on the field talk about the intricacies of like where how he needs to like lead with this foot and where he's watching the shoulders and all like it's it's a savant like it's a savant at work and seeing that is really cool it was really cool seeing them talk about such a specific position and how they all operate doing doing the same thing but differently also Travis uh was signing autographs and looked over just as i started catching reaction things so that was perfectly timed he didn't see it all how

bad I did. So that's, I'm fine with that. He did not notice. It's fine. We don't need to show that clip at all. He thinks of a star athlete now. So that's great. No, tied in you is sick. And if you have the opportunity or in the Nashville area, the open practices are a lot of fun. Should we get to what everyone, everyone wants us to talk about? What else happened there? I tied in you. Is there anything else? Well, it was Nashville. So we got to see some live music. We know anybody. It was awesome. It was. Yeah, no, I don't know. I don't know. You fucking hate us. I get it. Like, I get it. I get this whole segment. You probably are. like just drawing X's on our eyes.

And I totally understand it. We are, we deserve that. Uh, no, it was sick. We saw Taylor perform sick. Jake almost, I was, this is a little behind the scene story. Jake almost missed it to go to the bathroom. I really almost missed it. Yeah.

I, like, as, as the concert was like, wrapping up, I didn't quite realize that it was wrapping up to be like, my awareness is not there. Well, we think something's happening. And then Lanny Wilson kind of like, starts wrapping it up. And Jake's like, I got to go pee. I got to get out of here. He's like 20 feet away when she's like starting the wind up on, on Taylor coming out. And I like there's this huge roar of people.

And then I see change just like sprinting on his heels and come sprinting back. I'm like, did you make it? Didn't even make it to the bathroom. Had to hold it the whole time, which was. Oh, the whole three that song. I think you did okay. I think you did okay. For a while.

But it was it was incredible. It was really like I get it. You know, like it was it's unbelievable. It's great. It was a lot of fun. The roar of that crowd. Like it was, I've never heard anything like it. Like it's it's not that big of a venue.

I don't know. It was a couple thousand people, right? Maybe if not less. But the, like, it was a like a jet took off behind me. And I was like, holy shit. But it was a lot of fun. I'll say this. I don't know if we cut this or not.

But I did my favorite thing to do with Travis sometimes is like come up to him very seriously and be like, I don't know, man. So I saw him afterwards. And I was like, ah, you know, I think if she sticks with it, she might have some with this music. And I, he told me to shut the fuck up, which, uh, totally fair. It was awesome. I did get a black cowboy hat, which I think I left at the cane brown bar. So if anyone sees that, please get it back to me. But I did feel a little bit like.

You see a black cowboy hat in Nashville, Tennessee at the cane brown rooftop. It's mine. It belongs to Jets, Jake, and he'd like it back. I did feel a little bit like the study abroad student who goes away and like comes back with an accent. Like, I was very much in my- You got that cowboy hat quick. And I was like, I don't know, Jake Verger.

That was in my country element, but it was. You look good in it, though. I'll say that. You pulled it off. I was a little skeptical when you first walked over to that table and then you came back with it. And I was jealous. But I also realized I had no room for it in my bags. I didn't either.

I will cowboy had another time. It's like that scene for mean girls where it's like Katie, where army pants and flip up. So I got, like I saw Travis have a cowboy hat. Both of us couldn't. You and I can't. We have to coordinate our outfits. We match too much already. It's really sickening when we do.

We're even more obnoxious when we dress in the same new Heights merch. So I was like, the cowboy hat can be your thing for this weekend. I'll go. I'll go baseball cap. That's fine. Tidea news of blast. Shout out Reese's. Twist our arms.

We'll go back next year, guys. Anytime. I mean, it'll be, I'll check with my people if I have room in my schedule now as a certified influencer, I guess, but it was a lot of fun.

And if you have the opportunity to attend any of their open practices, I would highly recommend it next year. Shout out to George. Claire does a lot of work. I know Claire did a lot of work. Greg, Travis. Thank you guys. are putting on this event and Reese's, thank you for being like, I don't know, send those two idiots.

We had a blast. We had a blast. Thank you guys so much. Let's shout out. No, we also, I know everybody knows. We went down to the shore afterwards. So I do want to shout out. Kylie and everybody at, Eagles autism. I think they raised like 1.25 million this year. So it's cool to do those events back to back. It was like two Christmases. It was very fun for us. It's the best week of the year for us by far and you know, historically, like really, historically, you know, we haven't been able to make it to tight end you. And so being able to go

this year just so sick. It was incredible. It was a marathon. We're going to do it again next year. It was a marathon. Brandon literally reenacted the Popeye's Worker meme by the end of, uh, by the end of beer bowl. We were, we were wiped. But I mean, both of them are just, you see the community come out to support a really cool thing in, in both aspects. That's, that's, that's, Honestly, the best part of all this stuff is like getting to meet people in person.

It's just such a different like vibe and reaction than seeing tweets or comments, whatever. Those are all very lovely and nice. But like meeting people in person. Like we, we love seeing people. We love seeing 92%ers out there. And, you know, we're still getting used to like hearing people yell at us. If I always react like a fucking squirrel caught in the street. So please don't be alarmed if I don't know why you're screaming at me.

But a lot of fun. Love seeing you guys. I guess that's it. We can toss it back to the guy. Do we want to hint at what's coming up for the rest of the season of New Heights? I feel like we... We should say, because obviously we're, we'll peek behind the curtain, we're taping this after we had taped the first part of this episode. It's true.

We might have a big surprise for you guys. We might have gotten a chance to talk to somebody that we have absolutely no business. Like, absolutely zero business talking to this person. Incredible, they found time for us. We also have incredible guests for the finale. Yeah. Incredible guest for the finale. I've been trying to get this guy on for a while. Finally got him.

We have a lot of good stuff ready for you guys. So just wait. Just wait. Let you know. Let you know. And now what? Toss it back to you. Back to Jason and Travis.

Back to Jason and Travis. Thank you, Rees. Once again, that tight end you recap was brought to you by Reese's. Man, I hope you guys enjoyed that one. And Brandon and Jake, I hope you guys enjoyed a little bit of that tightened you action. And I know I always have fun and hopefully you guys do too. Just like the tight ends are the ultimate combo

of blocking and catching Reese's is the perfect combination of peanut butter and chocolate. That's right. The tight end of candies. Very well done. Very well done. All right. That wraps up another episode of New Heights.

Thank you to George Kendall, the one and only people's tight end. And thank you to everyone that tight end you for putting up with Jake and Brandon. We will be back next week with the season finale of season four of new heights once again new heights a wonder show brought to you by expedia the place you go to go places people thanks to the new heights production team for always making us look way better than what we are don't forget to follow the show on all social media at new heights show with one as for fun clips throughout the week but you 92 percenters you know that

because because you are fans of the show and we love you for being fans of the show and uh we love you for tuning in a year we'll see you guys next week peace