Claire Kittle got a close-up view of the harsh realities of the NFL — and it’s modified nearly everything about her life since.
Claire, who is married to 49ers tight finish George Kittle, said it “really hit home” when San Francisco briefly launched veteran fullback Kyle Juszczyk before resigning him in March.
George and Kyle are the longest-tenured Niners and close pals, while Claire and Kyle’s spouse Kristin Juszczyk are best pals — and not too long ago began a new digital sequence, “Wife’d Up Mic’d Up,” which follows their gameday adventures.
In a current interview with The Post, the 31-year-old Iowa native defined that the emotional ordeal shifted her mindset, and now she’s in her “yes” period.
“This offseason, Kyle was cut for a brief moment and we saw that [dynamic between the four of us] really change. He was, for a brief moment, going to a different team. That really hit home and made it real that this [NFL life] is not for long,” Claire said while talking on behalf of her partnership with Smirnoff for the next chapter of its Smirnoff We Do Game Days platform.
“That [situation] made us be like, ‘Alright, we’re doing everything we ever wanted to do right now because we don’t know how much longer we have together… And as we’re getting older, I feel like it gets more emotional.”
During a earlier look on Claire and George’s podcast, “Kittle Things,” Kyle said the foursome — who reside down the avenue from each other — had an emotional goodbye over the cellphone and described it as one of “the worst and hardest calls” he’s had.
Kyle, 34, spent only 4 days in free company before the 49ers re-signed him to a restructured two-year deal.
George, 32, agreed to a four-year, $76.4 million contract extension with San Francisco in April.
Claire and Kristin were in a position to transfer ahead with “Wife’d Up Mic’d Up” as 49ers WAGs.
“I feel like we do this every week when we’re flying home from an away game, it’s usually [Kristin] and I on the plane, sitting by each other,” Claire said.
“We’re debriefing and [stop to think that] it’s crazy to think all the life we’ve lived and we’re still together at year nine and we’re just so grateful for that.”
WAG life
Claire and Kristin — who’ve become some of the most well-known WAGs (aka wives and girlfriends) of the NFL — determined to enable a digicam crew to movie behind-the-scenes of the 2025 season for their YouTube digital sequence, “Wife’d Up Mic’d Up.”
“We have wanted to do this for years,” Claire said. “But again, everything that goes into it, getting a manufacturing workforce, getting videographers, enhancing it, there’s no manner we can do this by ourselves because it just wouldn’t be up to our normal.
“… [Kristin’s] so fun to work with. We do all this crazy stuff off screen anyway. We wanted to show pieces of that because we do have a really great friendship and relationship, and I think that’s important to show people and be in charge of the content.”
The new sequence, which launched in October, follows Claire and Kristin on gamedays, whether on the highway or home at Levi’s Stadium, and consists of their fashion, households and pals.
One current episode reveals Claire internet hosting pals and serving their favourite Smirnoff cocktails at her home bar.
Her go-to vacation drink is a Smirnoff vodka tonic with “mint or rosemary ice cubes and freeze dried cranberries,” while Kristin’s is a Lychee martini.
“I have a holiday bar [at home] where I take over George’s game room for the month of December and just make it like a Christmas speakeasy, so there’s a lot of vodka tonics pouring,” Claire said, including that their pals and household get pleasure from spending time there.
They are also close with star 49ers working back Christian McCaffrey and his spouse, Sports Illustrated Swimsuit model Olivia Culpo, and they typically trip collectively.
“They fit right in,” Claire added of Olivia and Christian, who landed in the Bay after the Panthers traded him to the 49ers halfway through the season in October 2022.
Claire’s 12 months of ‘yes’
In 2025, Claire has taken on more model offers and a number of roles, including founder of the inaugural HOSS Tailgate Tour, focusing on girls in sports activities and group.
“I’ve said ‘no’ to opportunities before and things just because maybe I didn’t feel like the timing was right,” Claire said. “Deep inside, girls have great instinct, and I think it’s onerous sometimes to actually hear to that. For whatever purpose, I really feel like I’m very good at listening to that instinct — and this 12 months, I really feel great.
“I feel like I’m in a good place and I want to capitalize on some opportunities. I want to expand more and branch out and see what some of these things could lead to. And it’s exciting, right? This doesn’t last forever — the NFL stands for ‘not for long.’ We’re in our ninth year, and I just feel like it’s a year of saying ‘yes’ and capitalizing on opportunities because we’re just having fun.”
Claire, who was school basketball star for the Hawkeyes, and George met as freshman at the University of Iowa, where he performed soccer.
“I don’t think you could conceptualize where we are today,” she said. “And clearly we were so younger first assembly and beginning our relationship. It’s like the world is your oyster, proper? But what is that like? Even when we were in school, Instagram was just beginning and social media was just beginning. There was nobody doing these issues.
“Goerge and I have just been fortunate to have surrounded ourselves with really great people, a great organization and we’re just riding the wave… We’re trying to say yes to things and be good people. I feel like good things come to good people, so that’s kind of our motto.”
Smirnoff shoppers can enter to win the merchandise, plus submit for the grand prize weekly between now and Jan. 23, 2026.
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