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    • Happy National Tight Ends Day: Travis Kelce, TEs responsible for NFL record 16 TDs
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    Happy National Tight Ends Day: Travis Kelce, TEs responsible for NFL record 16 TDs

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    It’s the fourth Sunday in October and that can only mean one thing: National Tight Ends Day.

    Sunday marks the fifth annual celebration of the informal event, and the tight ends showed up ready to play. At the end of the first period on Sunday, there were seven different tight ends scoring touchdowns, eight if you count Minnesota Vikings Josh Oliver’s score from Thursday night.

    Kyle Pitts of the Atlanta Falcons was the biggest celebrant, recording his first career multi-touchdown game. Here’s a quick overview of the day’s top festive performances, plus a quick bit of history.

    The Kansas City Chiefs tight end scored his first touchdown of the 2024 season on a third-and-goal to put the Chiefs ahead in the second quarter.

    The 35-year-old has had a quiet season, entering National Tight Ends Day with 28 receptions for 245 yards, but his touchdown Sunday marked his 75th career score. Only four other tight ends in league history have ever reached the end zone more often: Antonio Gates, Tony Gonzalez, Rob Gronkowski and Jimmy Graham.

    Kyle Pitts

    Pitts has put together the type of play that fantasy football managers have been waiting for for years. The ultra-talented 24-year-old started National Tight Ends Day with a bang, scoring two touchdowns in the first half, both displaying the unique blend of size and speed that earned him a 2021 draft pick as the No. 4 overall pick.

    He finished the holiday with four catches for a season-high 91 yards to go with the two scores.

    The San Francisco 49ers star — who helped invent this “holiday” (see below) — put a cap on things with a huge performance in a “Sunday Night Football” win over the Dallas Cowboys. He had six catches for 128 yards (his first 100-yard game of the season) and a touchdown in San Francisco’s 30–24 win over Dallas. It was his sixth touchdown catch of the season, as he remains the NFL’s leading rusher at the position.

    On the other side of Pitts, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers were without star receivers Chris Godwin and Mike Evans on Sunday, but still celebrated National Tight Ends Day with great success.

    Otton matched Pitts’ dominance, scoring two touchdowns of his own and finishing with 81 yards on nine receptions.

    The Detroit duo didn’t want to take away from the holiday romance, so the Lions tight ends each got a touchdown.

    Wright got the celebration started first in the second quarter and reached the end zone for the first in 2024, where he was quickly mobbed by LaPorta.

    Near the end of the frame, LaPorta danced into the end zone himself and caught a laser from running back David Montgomery on a trick play.

    Andrews, a National Tight End Day mainstay, has had a quieter 2024 than in recent years, but the Baltimore Ravens star was in top form on Sunday against the Cleveland Browns. The three-time Pro Bowler scored his fourth touchdown of the season.

    Andrews’ touchdown came minutes after Njoku gave the Browns a third-quarter lead with a leaping 23-yard touchdown grab.

    Andrews and Njoku finished their star-studded holiday game with a combined 10 receptions for 97 yards and the two touchdowns.

    Later Sunday, the Denver Broncos looked to replicate the Lions’ fun and celebrate their pair of tight ends as well. In the first quarter, Nate Adkins joined the party with his first career touchdown reception, then Adam Trautman joined him in the second quarter to give Denver a lead over the Carolina Panthers.

    Denver’s tight ends entered Sunday with just 17 receptions for 136 yards and no touchdowns this season. Through two quarters against the Panthers, the Broncos’ tight ends totaled five catches for 88 yards and two touchdowns.

    Other touchdown scorers

    • Tyler Conklin: The New York Jets tight end scored on an impressive one-handed grab in traffic against the New England Patriots to give the Jets their first touchdown of the game
    • Tucker Kraft: Kraft scored his fifth touchdown in five games on Sunday to help the Green Bay Packers build a lead over the Jacksonville Jaguars in the fourth quarter.
    • Evan Engram: The Jaguars tight end is a favorite target of Trevor Lawrence, and their touchdown connection Sunday couldn’t have come at a better time. With less than two minutes to play, Engram outran three Packers defenders and scored a late touchdown to tie the game.
    • Dalton Kincaid: The Buffalo Bills tight end got into action with a red zone score just before halftime against the Seattle Seahawks.
    • Josh Oliver: Does Oliver’s touchdown on Thursday night count? Definitely for this exercise. The Minnesota Vikings reached their tight end for a touchdown in the first quarter on National Tight Ends Day-eve-eve-eve.

    History of National Tight Ends Day

    In Week 2 of 2018, former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo connected with tight end Garrett Celek on an 11-yard touchdown. Back on the sidelines, the always colorful Kittle later shared a conversation he was a part of.

    “We were standing on the sideline after Celek’s score when Jimmy asked, ‘What is that, like National Tight Ends Day?’” Kittle said. “I thought, ‘Yes, it’s National Tight Ends Day.’ It’s vacation. Tight ends across the league are scoring touchdowns.” That’s how it happened. We just kind of rolled into it.”

    The idea grew in 2019 before the NFL fully embraced the concept with promotional content in 2020. By 2023, the holiday was so beloved that it expanded beyond sports and caught the attention of basketball’s biggest star LeBron James.

    Required reading

    (Photo: Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

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