SANTA CLARA — Kyle Juszczyk proudly recalls making $5.15 an hour. That was minimum wage 20 years ago, when he was a teenager in Medina, Ohio, about an hour south of Cleveland.
He worked with his brother, Sean, who’s six years older and was their manager at McDonald’s. That carried extra power at Thanksgiving break, when they would head to a snow-covered football field at the local high school.
“We had a McDonald’s Turkey Bowl and I was his secret weapon,” Kyle Juszczyk recalled. “I was like 14 or 15 years old but I was whooping all these early 20-year-olds, people who weren’t real athletes.”
Juszczyk, 34, is still challenging those in their roaring 20s.
Sunday offers a homecoming for the nine-time Pro Bowl fullback as he and the 49ers (8-4) visit the Cleveland Browns (3-8). There, on the Lake Erie shore, he made his first NFL reception in 2015, on a 9-yard touchdown pass from Joe Flacco in a victory for his Baltimore Ravens.
Juszczyk, in his 13th season, is now up to 299 career receptions, as if you haven’t heard.
Home or away, a phenomenon immediately overtakes fans whenever he makes a catch. “Juuuuicce!” bellows from the 49ers Faithful. It’s an unrivaled calling card of his nine years in a Niners uniform.
“It’s really, really cool. It’s not lost on me,” Juszczyk said. “One of my teammates, the other day when we were playing Arizona, said: ‘Dude, I don’t get it. You’re from Cleveland. You play for the Niners. Why are they yelling ‘Juice’ in Arizona?’
“It’s really cool just to be embraced by this fan base and feel that love,” Juszczyk added. “Every time you see me get the ball, I’m smiling. It pumps you up even more knowing you have that support.”
It brightens up teammates, too.
“It’s just cool that the crowd immediately feeds off of our fullback when he gets the ball and he’s just got this different kind of aura,” quarterback Brock Purdy said. “Everybody has their own different kind of aura, but Juice’s aura with our stadium, our fan base, it’s like everybody knows him.”
And they know immediately once the ball finds No. 44. Juszczyk has worn that number since his Harvard days as a nod to former NFL tight end Dallas Clark, though Juszczyk acknowledges the 49ers’ No. 44 legacy of “absolute stud” fullback Tom Rathman.
“When Juice gets the ball and the whole stadium lights up, even on the road, that’s my favorite time to hear it,” tight end George Kittle said. “On the road, you just hear ‘Juuuuuice!’ It gets the whole team going. It’s like an energy boost.”
So much for being a secret weapon, as Juszczyk was 20 years ago in those McDonald’s Turkey Bowls against the older kids at Cloverleaf High, where his No. 2 football jersey was retired in 2013, mere months after the Ravens drafted him in the fourth round.
“That was always a big event. It would be completely covered in snow,” Juszczyk recalled. “We’d have three or four layers on and we were all like dough-boys, because it was cold. You could barely throw the ball. I don’t think a year went by that my brother didn’t get hurt somehow, whether it was rolling his ankle, dislocating his shoulder, cutting himself on something.”
Thanksgiving break wouldn’t be complete without another pickup game, on a later day, with friends his own age at the local elementary school
When Juszczyk suited up for his 200th NFL game on Nov. 16 in Arizona, he commemorated it by posing for pregame pictures with his wife, Kristin. (She has skyrocketed to her own fame as a clothing designer, spinning that into this year’s Off Season apparel and headlining Friday’s Women of the Niners event at Levi’s Stadium.)
“Two hundred games is unbelievable in this league,” said running back Christian McCaffrey, a 107-game veteran. “To do it the way he plays at such a high level, year in and year out, it’s pretty incredible. It’s inspiring to all of us.”
Juszczyk is a 49ers captain for a second straight year. In between those seasons, he nearly lost his title as their longest-tenured active player. He was cut loose in March’s clear-cutting of high-priced veterans.
After “the three worst days of my life” testing free agency, Juszczyk returned to sign a two-year, $8 million deal – a tad more than Medina’s minimum wage two decades ago. His career NFL earnings: $46,278,083.
He survived a training camp injury to deliver 18 “Juuuuicce!” receptions so far, including the 49ers’ first touchdown at home this season on Sept. 21 against Arizona. He’s still a savvy lead blocker, like on McCaffrey’s 12-yard touchdown run that sealed Monday’s 20-9 win over Carolina. And Juszczyk is the 49ers’ nominee for the NFL’s Art Rooney Sportsmanship Award.
“He’s such a great leader, a great friend, and he does everything right. He’s the ultimate pro,” said McCaffrey, the NFL’s leader in carries (217), receptions (81), and scrimmage yards (1,581).
Juszczyk initially sought a six-year career in the NFL, then his four-year term in the Ravens’ system took a physical toll and wreaked havoc on his neck. In 2017, he joined the 49ers’ first free agency class under coach Kyle Shanahan and general manager John Lynch.
“To play 13 years, you have to evolve and a lot of that is how offenses have evolved, and I’ve tried to stay relevant and get on the field any way possible,” said Juszczyk, who angles his body to deflect crushing impacts on blocks and who’ll use his versatility to line up beyond the backfield in a multi-faceted offense.
“From how he takes care of his body to how he lives his life, (it) is really unique,” Shanahan said. “He is an extremely thought-out guy, from what he’s putting in his body the first day after the season to the middle of the season, from how many hours he sleeps. All that stuff.”
Shanahan was the Browns’ offensive coordinator in 2015 when Juszczyk came to Cleveland and made his first catch.
Since then, he has totaled 299 receptions for 2,824 yards and 19 touchdowns, plus 16 catches in 12 playoff games and a touchdown in the 2019 49ers’ Super Bowl loss.
In Cleveland, he made seven career catches, visiting four times with the Ravens (2013-16) and once with the 49ers, a 2023 loss that snapped their undefeated start at 5-0.
More Juszczyk trivia (that he was excited to quiz his wife with): He has made a reception in all but one current NFL stadium. That would be Buffalo, where he did have a carry in last December’s loss. (His receptions in Las Vegas came in the Super Bowl loss two years ago, including an 18-yard catch on Purdy’s first pass.)
Now, reception No. 300 could come where the first was secured, in Cleveland, just up I-71 from the McDonald’s Turkey Bowl.
“It’s always special to go back home and play in Cleveland,” Juszczyk said. “I’ll always have tons of family, tons of friends and tons of people I grew up with be there at the game. It’s always cool.”
Or as his game-day fans might bellow: “Cooooooool, Juuuuuuice.”