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 ****** ans, 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.
#touchdown
"Or some first touchdown betting line that they're telling me about," Tonges said.
Thursday, when the 49ers hosted the ****** ans, 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.
#touchdown
5 days ago
