Downingtown’s Tyler Kroft will be thinking of his friend as he returns for NFC championship game with the 49ers

Playing at Lincoln Financial Field for the first time with a Super Bowl on the line will be special for Kroft, but he'll be missing his late buddy.

Tight end Tyler Kroft has played for four teams in his eight-year NFL career.Read moreLachlan Cunningham / AP

by Matt Breen

Published Jan. 28, 2023, 9:00 a.m. ET

Zarko Ellis worked for a moving company, so he was the perfect friend to help Tyler Kroft move eight years ago to Cincinnati after he was drafted by the Bengals. Ellis took off a few days from work, rented a truck, and drove eight hours with Kroft’s mother and brother to his new town.

They had been buddies for years, both attending Lionville Middle School and Downingtown East High. And now Ellis could help carry some boxes into Kroft’s apartment as his friend started his NFL career.

But it was what happened next that made Ellis the perfect friend for the move.

He stayed a couple of days in Cincinnati with Kroft, who returns to Philadelphia on Sunday with the 49ers for the NFC championship game, and helped his friend unpack more than what they brought in that truck.

“He knew, even if I didn’t say it, that ‘Yeah it’s a dream come true to get drafted into the NFL but there’s still nerves and everything,’” Kroft said. “I’m going to a city that I never played in, playing against the best of the best. I think he recognized probably more than I appreciated at the time, was how much of a transition that he was.

“Having him out there, having a friendly face, having like one of my brothers there, that went a lot further than I appreciated in the moment. Looking back at the moment, you appreciate that so much.”

Kroft has been thinking this past week about Ellis, who died in October. Kroft will have roughly 15 friends and family in the stands for his first NFL game at Lincoln Financial Field and surely Ellis — who wore his jersey to NFL games and came to see him in college at Rutgers — would be there.

“Just an awesome dude,” Kroft said. “One of those people who came into the room and lit the room up. He definitely had a raunchier sense of humor, and he was a funny cat, but through and through he was an awesome human being. Everyone who knew Zarko, knew that about him. You picked up pretty quickly what kind of guy he was.”

Kroft, in his eighth season after entering the league as a third-round pick, has just four catches this season as a reserve tight end but has been a special- teams contributor and effective blocker for one of the league’s most dynamic rushing attacks. He was a surprise inactive for last week’s win over Dallas but played in the wild-card win against Seattle. He should be out there on Sunday.

“We believed in our process all year,” Kroft said of the 49ers, who haven’t lost a game since Oct. 23. “We come in and we have a team of guys who love playing the game and we like to work hard. When you have those two things going for you, it makes coming to work and being around each other fun. Everyone takes pride in what they’re doing. It’s all kind of coming together and we’re rolling.”

Kroft was a star at Downingtown East, where he played for longtime coach Michael Matta before heading to Rutgers. He grew up an Eagles fan and called the 49ers his West Coast team, which explains why Santa Claus brought him a Steve Young Hutch set when he was a kid.

Kroft played at the Linc with Rutgers and played the Eagles in the NFL. But he has never played them at home, and his first game there will be for a chance at the Super Bowl. But he’ll be missing his buddy.

“He would’ve had a ticket for sure,” Kroft said.

Kroft spoke this week to Ellis’ mother, who is a Saints fan and will be rooting for the 49ers on Sunday. He told her how much he missed her son and having him in his life. But then they said that they can still feel his presence and that he’ll be with his friend on Sunday.

“We understand that he’s with us too and how we live our life and how we talk about him and how we treat others,” Kroft said. “Anyone who knew Zarko knew how genuine of a person he was toward everyone.”