Claire Kittle got a close-up view of the harsh realities of the NFL — and it’s changed almost everything about her life since.
Claire, who is married to 49ers tight end George Kittle, said it “really hit home” when San Francisco briefly released veteran fullback Kyle Juszczyk before resigning him in March.
George and Kyle are the longest-tenured Niners and close friends, while Claire and Kyle’s wife Kristin Juszczyk are best friends — and recently started a new digital series, “Wife’d Up Mic’d Up,” which follows their gameday adventures.
In a recent interview with The Post, the 31-year-old Iowa native explained that the emotional ordeal shifted her mindset, and now she’s in her “yes” era.
“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 speaking 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 previous appearance on Claire and George’s podcast, “Kittle Things,” Kyle said the foursome — who live down the street from each other — had an emotional goodbye over the phone and described it as one of “the worst and hardest calls” he’s had.
Kyle, 34, spent only four days in free agency 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 able to move forward 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 famous WAGs (aka wives and girlfriends) of the NFL — decided to allow a camera crew to film behind-the-scenes of the 2025 season for their YouTube digital series, “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 production team, getting videographers, editing it, there’s no way we can do this by ourselves because it just wouldn’t be up to our standard.
“… [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 series, which launched in October, follows Claire and Kristin on gamedays, whether on the road or home at Levi’s Stadium, and includes their fashion, families and friends.
One recent episode shows Claire hosting friends and serving their favorite Smirnoff cocktails at her home bar.
Her go-to holiday 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, adding that their friends and family enjoy spending time there.
They are also close with star 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey and his wife, Sports Illustrated Swimsuit model Olivia Culpo, and they often vacation together.
“They fit right in,” Claire added of Olivia and Christian, who landed in the Bay after the Panthers traded him to the 49ers midway through the season in October 2022.
Claire’s year of ‘yes’
In 2025, Claire has taken on more brand deals and multiple roles, including founder of the inaugural HOSS Tailgate Tour, focusing on women in sports and community.
“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, women have great intuition, and I think it’s hard sometimes to really listen to that. For whatever reason, I feel like I’m very good at listening to that intuition — and this year, I 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 college basketball star for the Hawkeyes, and George met as freshman at the University of Iowa, where he played football.
“I don’t think you could conceptualize where we are today,” she said. “And obviously we were so young first meeting and starting our relationship. It’s like the world is your oyster, right? But what is that like? Even when we were in college, Instagram was just starting and social media was just starting. There was nobody doing these things.
“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 consumers can enter to win the merchandise, plus submit for the grand prize weekly between now and Jan. 23, 2026.
