How Luke Farrell and Jake Tonges helped mitigate 49ers’ losses of Kittle, Juszczyk

SANTA CLARA — The 49ers have been described as a team with a wide chasm between established stars, journeymen hoping to make the roster and rookies who are learning the ropes.

Nowhere is that gulf as wide as tight end. The 49ers signed Luke Farrell to a three-year, $15.75 contract to complement George Kittle, a franchise icon and probably the best two-way (receiving, blocking) tight end in the NFL. Also in the mix is Jake Tonges, the Los Gatos High and Cal product who looked to be a fringe player who had a 50-50 shot at making the 53-man roster.

Kittle left with a hamstring strain early in Seattle, was placed on injured reserve and will miss at a minimum three more games including Sunday’s home opener against the Arizona Cardinals (1:25 p.m., Fox). If that wasn’t enough, fullback Kyle Juszczyk was done after 10 plays with a concussion in a 26-21 win over New Orleans in Week 2.

“When it happens, it’s like, OK, it’s just us now,” Farrell said.

That  meant tight ends — mostly Tonges — had to take Juszczyk’s position in the backfield in formations that called for a fullback.

“We think about situations like that in the week leading up to the game,” Tonges said Wednesday. “What if something were to happen? My role is to fill in for whoever is going down so I’ve always paid a lot of attention to the fullback stuff.”

If Juszczyk, in his 13th season, doesn’t clear concussion protocol, it will be Farrell and Tonges again, this time with a side of Brayden Willis, who was promoted Wednesday from the practice squad.

Given that Kittle and Juszczyk are the only two 49ers who have been with the team throughout the tenure of coach Kyle Shanahan starting in 2017, it’s far from ideal in an NFC West game between two teams with 2-0 records.

Yet Farrell and Tonges have made it work.

Each has scored a touchdown, with Farrell getting the first of his career on an 11-yard reception from Mac Jones against New Orleans. He played four seasons with Jacksonville, was targeted 47 times and caught 36 passes for 318 yards while primarily operating as a 6-foot-5, 250-pound in-line blocker.

“It was pretty incredible,” Farrell said. There are plays every game where you have opportunities, and for four years of my career, it hasn’t come up. I’ve been putting my head down, working for it. I think I had one target in the red zone in my whole career, really, and it was at Houston. Red zone targets for me have been very limited in general.”

Tonges (6-4, 240) had never even caught an NFL pass until the Seattle game, where two completions preceded a game-winning 4-yard touchdown reception, where he essentially stole the ball from Seattle defensive back Riq Woolen.

He was even busier against the Seahawks with 56 snaps, 13 of them coming out of the backfield (with Farrell getting two) because of Juszczyk’s absence. On Farrell’s touchdown against New Orleans, Tonges helped clear the way with a block of safety Justin Reid.

Keep in mind, Kittle and Juszczyk have been in Shanahan’s system since 2017 and understand every nuance, while Tonges and Farrell are in their regular-season game with the 49ers.

And since both Kittle and Juszczyk were in-game injuries, the 49ers’ tight ends were adjusting on the fly to roles that differed from the original game plan. They operated flawlessly in terms of assignments. Signed originally as an undrafted free agent by Chicago in 2022, Tonges got some work in fullback and played in four games but realized he’d have to step up his game in that position to stick on the 49ers’ 53-man roster.

“I wanted to carry that into my role here and make the coaches know I can do both, I can be ready to do both,” Tonges said. “The more you can do, the better.”

Tonges did well enough that he made the team at the expense of Ross Dwelly, a former 49er who spent last year with the Atlanta Falcons.

“He came in as more of a pass game guy, and if you’re a tight end and you’re just a pass game guy, you can call yourself a tight end but you’re really just another receiver,” Shanahan said. “You’ve got to be able to block. He’s shown us that. He’s been able to do it from the I at the fullback position and has been able to do it at the line of scrimmage.”

After the Saints win, McCaffrey marveled at how an offense with so many moving parts to compensate for injured players could be so smooth in a nine-play, 77-yard touchdown pass in just over a minute before halftime. Farrell and Tonges have stood out in that regard.

“They’ve stepped up so big the last two weeks,” McCaffrey said. “It’s a big test with guys like George and Juice who are the leaders of that room, but they’ve been so good, man. To see guys step up and do things they haven’t done through camp, it’s been awesome.”

Farrell was impressed as well.

“In the second game of the season, that’s where you usually get little errors here and there, which is just a product of it being early in the season,” Farrell said. “For us to not have that, it’s pretty cool.”