Jake Tonges’ hard work pays off with multi-million-dollar contract

Last Thursday, San Francisco 49ers tight end Jake Tonges took a break from apartment-hunting in Los Gatos and Saratoga to chat with the Los Gatan about signing a big two-year contract extension with the team that plays just up the road.

“I’ve gotta find a spot,” the 26-year-old said, emphasizing his preference for where he’d like to call home, adding he’d just moved out of his old place in Mountain View. “I’m from Los Gatos.”

With the help of his agent Steve Caric, of The Team (formerly Wasserman), Tonges scored a two-year, $8 million deal that features a signing bonus of $2.615 million.

It comes with a 2026 base salary of $1.145 million, followed by $1.26 million in 2027—on top of other sweeteners.

The pro career of #88 has been one of steady progression. This was his third year with the 49ers, but only the first where he’s had the chance to start putting numbers up on the board.

He went from the practice squad in Year 1, to special teams in Year 2 (but didn’t get many opportunities to display his offensive talents), to scoring five touchdowns (putting him in the Top 50 in the league) and notching 293 receiving yards in Year 3.

This impressive rise in a business where the average career-length for tight ends is just 3.7 years, according to statista.com, was anything but a foregone conclusion.

After all, he was released from the Chicago Bears roster in August 2023, after playing just four games with the team the prior year.

“I had pulled my calf,” he remembered. “I couldn’t play in the preseason.”

On the one hand, Tonges knew he’d proven he was NFL material. But also knew the footage in his playing portfolio didn’t fully represent all that he had to offer.

“I didn’t feel like the opportunity was done,” he said, but added, “You don’t have that much real game tape.”

Luckily for him, the West Coast was calling him back. The 49ers looked past the fact the only time he was targeted for a pass with the Bears it was an incompletion, and saw his potential.

Tonges was coming off of four seasons at Cal Berkeley where he recorded 47 receptions for 620 yards—and scored four touchdowns.

Born in Cincinnati, Tonges was a Bengals fan as a kid.

But like everyone else, he grew up watching the 9ers. And once he moved to Los Gatos, he was surrounded by friends who cheered for the team.

“It’s obviously a super legendary organization,” he said. “My parents were over the moon because they could come to the games.”

Tonges got to work proving himself.

“You’re just practicing all week, helping the starters on the roster prepare,” he said. “They had a really good defense that year.”

He says they taught him a lot. And he remembers all the sweat equity he put into learning the top-notch offensive moves.

“It just gave me a lot of confidence,” he said. “I felt like, I can do it in the game and take it to the next level.”

Tonges went from getting let go from a team that had been the worst in the league the previous season, to going to the Super Bowl—even though he didn’t get to play in it.

“I wouldn’t have guessed that’s where I would have ended up,” he said. “It was obviously a surreal experience.”

He kept chugging away in his second year on San Francisco, mostly in the background. By last fall he was tied for first in touchdowns in the NFL for his position, with Sports Illustrated calling him the “secret weapon that no one saw coming.”

With George Kittle suffering multiple injuries, Tonges got his moment to really prove himself.

 “You never really know if your opportunity’s going to come, or when it’s going to come,” he said.

Kittle hurt his hamstring in the first half of the Sept. 7 game in Seattle, creating an opening.

Quarterback Brock Purdy dashed right after the snap, chased by two Seahawks, with less than 2 minutes left in the fourth quarter. He fired one off quickly before going down. And then—

“Bang!” Tonges said, recalling the end-zone completion that put them ahead in the 20-17 victory.

With Kittle beset by additional injuries, Tonges would go on to be targeted with 46 throws—and catching 34 of them—in the regular season.

No wonder the 49ers want to keep him around.

“It’s every player’s goal when they enter the NFL to make it to a second contract,” he said, thinking back to how he was undrafted out of college. “I feel extremely grateful.”

So, you might just bump into him around town in the days ahead.

“I think it’s just a beautiful area and I think downtown Los Gatos is one of the better downtowns I’ve ever been to, for a smallish, mid-sized town,” he said, adding other players and coaches love the place, too. “They often are like, It’s just so gorgeous over there.”