RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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Niners tight end Jake Tonges turns to run upfield after a reception during a game against the Arizona Cardinals in 2025. (Carlos Avila Gonzalez/S.F. Chronicle)
When fans approach San Francisco 49ers backup tight end Jake Tonges these days, they typically ask about one of two things. At the top of the list has to be his game-winning touchdown grab in Seattle, which excused him from no-name status at the start of the 2025 season, to beat the eventual Super Bowl champion Seahawks. The other involves the fantasy football waiver wire. He giggled.
"Or some first touchdown betting line that they're telling me about," Tonges said.
Thursday, when the 49ers hosted the Titans, marked the first time he did not suit up for a preseason game. What once was the basis for his survival in the NFL became validation that he made it.
No one drafted Tonges. The Chicago Bears signed him as an undrafted free agent in 2022, along with more than a dozen others. For the next several Augusts, his sole focus was putting together good tape in the preseason so that he had something to show other teams in case he was, as an example, released with an injury settlement, the kind of niche NFL roster terminology fringe players learn quickly.
A campaign in which All-Pro tight end George Kittle missed six games in the regular season and another in the playoffs gave Tonges an opportunity to put the world of Silicon Valley tech and finance in the rearview. The Los Gatos native attended Cal as a walk-on who took BART into the city for an internship at Morgan Stanley.
It took two seasons for him to be put on scholarship and four to be named a starter. Far from the makings of the $8 million man who signed a two-year extension this offseason.
When the 49ers played the Titans this past week, all Tonges had to do was show up in street clothes, watch an audition he knew too well, and drive back to a house on lease for the next year. Life is good. "It feels good having a little bit of security," Tonges said.
The 6-foot-4, 240-pounder did more than just catch an ill-advised pass by Brock Purdy for the winning TD in the 2025 opener. Last season accounted for the first 34 catches and 293 yards of his career, spanning his four years in the league. It was a long time coming. For an overachiever like Tonges, there was no guarantee it would ever come.
"That first year is, I think, the hardest year to kind of stick around because you have so many undrafted guys come in," Tonges said. "I was in Chicago, we must've had like 10 or 15 guys come in, and I think there was like two or three who made the team."
A rookie Tonges made it past cuts that August, in 2022, only to be waived twice over the course of the next 12 months. He found a home on the 49ers practice squad in 2023, carved out a special teams role for himself by 2024, and as recently as the 2025 was on the field for a two-minute drill in a preseason game against the Las Vegas Raiders. The memory was still fresh in his head.
"I think that was Jake Moody's field goal," Tonges said, asked about setting up the walk-off-winning kick by Eddy Piñeiro, who was not yet on the team.
It's why Thursday's preseason opener, a game in which he did not play a single snap, was a "full-circle moment" for Tonges. His place on the roster - and even the depth chart - is not in question.
Kittle continues to rehab with a goal of returning from his torn Achilles tendon by Week 1, an ambitious goal. In his absence, Tonges and Luke Farrell present complementary skill sets. The 49ers run a lot of 22-personnel formations, or in other words, sets with two tight ends. On paper, Tonges is a prototypical receiving tight end and Farrell is known for his blocking.
First-year tight ends coach Cam Clemmons has tried to help them out of those boxes. Clemmons, previously an assistant offensive line coach for the 49ers, has been especially helpful to Tonges.
"That's been my challenge to him, is, Jake, your ceiling isn't last year," Clemmons said. "Last year was just kind of the beginning."
Whatever happens from here, any Tonges highlight reel should probably start with Sept. 7, 2025. He entered that game with one NFL target. He exited with three more, including as many catches all on the same drive, the last of which came with 1:34 remaining in the game and saved Purdy from an interception and the 49ers from a loss.
"I wasn't sure if he was throwing it away," said Tonges, who at 6-foot-4 skied over 6-foot-4 cornerback Tariq Woolen to secure the touchdown.
Not bad for a finance bro.
There’s more to San Francisco with the Chronicle. Subscribe today for just 25¢. This article originally published at Tight end Jake Tonges, a former tech bro, on ‘full-circle moment' after $8 million contract with 49ers .
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