Unsurprisingly, a large contingent of San Francisco 49ers players are in attendance for Tight End University.
The annual tight end summit, the brainchild of 49ers tight end George Kittle, Kansas City Chiefs star Travis Kelce and former Pro Bowl tight end and Fox Sports announcer Greg Olsen, is taking place in Nashville this week.
In addition to Kittle, most of the 49ers' tight end depth chart made the trip to TEU, with Logan Thomas, Eric Saubert, Cameron Latu and rookie Mason Pline joining their teammate for the three-day program, which, per its official website, gives attendees the chance to "bond, collaborate with, and learn amongst their peers while participating in a variety of activities including film study, on-field drills, recovery, rehabilitation, and more". Per NBC Sports Bay Area's Jennifer Lee Chan, San Francisco's third-string quarterback Brandon Allen is also at the summit.
Latu, a third-round pick of the Niners last year, has yet to play a regular-season snap for San Francisco owing to a knee injury that required surgery.
He is expected to be back for training camp but the 49ers' signings of Thomas and Saubert have significantly dented the chances of him making the 53-man roster.
Brayden Willis, the Niners' seventh-round pick from the same draft, is in the same position and seemingly faces an uphill climb to make the roster. However, Willis is not reported as being in attendance at the Vanderbilt University campus. He and Jake Tonges are the only 49ers tight ends that appear to have elected to skip the event.
Willis does at least have the experience of playing some snaps as a rookie, but his absence from TEU is something of a surprise given the challenge he has ahead of him.
Of course, attending TEU will have no bearing on the makeup of the 49ers' initial 53-man roster, but Willis' decision not to show up at the summit while nearly every other member of San Francisco's tight end depth chart is there trying to improve their game is at least noteworthy.
