<
        >

          Celebrating National Tight Ends Day: George Kittle, Travis Kelce shine

          • Brianna Williams, ESPNOct 28, 2024, 02:33 AM

          To the untrained eye, it's just another Sunday in October. But for NFL fans, today is a holiday: National Tight Ends Day.

          Since its accidental inception in 2018, the fourth weekend of October has become a day of celebration for fans. It all started in Week 2 of that year when former 49ers tight end Garrett Celek caught an 11-yard touchdown pass from former 49ers quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo against the Detroit Lions, dragging two defenders with him into the end zone.

          "We were on the sidelines after [former 49ers tight end Garrett] Celek's score when Jimmy [Garoppolo] asked, 'What is it, like National Tight Ends Day?'" George Kittle recalled. "I was like, 'yeah, it's National Tight Ends Day. It's a holiday. Tight ends all over the league are scoring touchdowns.' That's how it came to be. We just kind of rolled with it."

          On Sunday, tight ends represented their position by finding the end zone early and often. So far, tight ends have racked up 17 touchdowns, which is the most in a single week this season. The record since 2000 in a single week is 22 touchdowns, set in Week 1 of 2015. They also caught 177 passes today, the most on a single day in the Super Bowl era, according to ESPN Research.

          In honor of National Tight Ends Day, here are Week 8's top plays for the big men on the move.

          San Francisco 49ers, George Kittle

          Kansas City Chiefs, Travis Kelce

          Denver Broncos, Nate Adkins

          Broncos, Adam Trautman

          Las Vegas Raiders, Brock Bowers

          Cleveland Browns, David Njoku

          Arizona Cardinals, Trey McBride

          Detroit Lions, Sam LaPorta

          Lions, Brock Wright

          Green Bay Packers, Tucker Kraft

          New York Jets,Tyler Conklin

          Jacksonville Jaguars, Evan Engram

          Cincinnati Bengals, Mike Gesicki

          Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Cade Otton

          Atlanta Falcons, Kyle Pitts

          Baltimore Ravens, Mark Andrews