George Kittle, Travis Kelce and Greg Olson are continuing their annual tradition of putting on an offseason tight end clinic called Tight End University. This year’s workouts will take place at Vanderbilt University. Among those in attendance will be 49ers quarterbacks Trey Lance and Sam Darnold according to Kittle, who spoke with NFL Network’s Good Morning Football on Tuesday.
Kittle said 75 players in all will take part in the session that includes two days of classroom work and on-field drills designed specifically for TEs. A slew of other QBs will also attend including former 49ers CJ Beathard, Nick Mullens and Kurt Benkert.
Lance and Darnold aren’t likely to be a ton of help in the fundamentals of the TE position, but they can both offer a QB’s-eye view of things. They should also get some opportunities to throw during the on-field sessions.
.@gkittle46 is ready to host Tight End University…find out who will be in attendance 👀⬇️ (via @GMFB) pic.twitter.com/OwNJsL0fFo
— NFL Network (@nflnetwork) June 13, 2023
Any reps Lance can get are valuable at this point, especially since he and Darnold are in a race for the QB2 job on the 49ers’ depth chart. With virtually all of his first two years as a pro getting derailed by injuries, the ability to get out and throw to different pass catchers will be helpful for Lance heading into training camp.
For Darnold the value is more likely to come in any direct conversations he can have with Lance or Kittle about the 49ers’ offense. He has 55 NFL starts under his belt so he may not need the same type of refinement as Lance, but he’ll need to absorb as much about Kyle Shanahan’s offense as possible to hit the ground running in camp.
