He has gone where no tight end in NFL history ever has gone before him, and he’s done it in his own inimitable, flamboyant, swashbuckling and electric style, aggressively slamming into opposing defenders both with and without the football, but doing it with the panache that suggests a certain elegance and flair despite the basic rawness of the sport he plays for a living.
George Kittle does it his way.
And only one way.
He’s as all-out and all-in of a professional football player as you will ever see, but it isn’t just Kittle’s driving work ethic and commitment to excellence that sets him apart from the NFL average.
No, Kittle is something extra and beyond. After just three seasons with the 49ers, he has developed into a special kind of talent.
“Right now, there is not comp for George,” Jack Bechta, Kittle’s agent, said recently on NBC Sports Bay Area’s 49ers Insider Podcast. “He’s unique. He’s a unicorn. He’s one of a kind.”
Unicorns aren’t real, but Kittle sure is, and Bechta’s inference is both obvious and understandable. Just like the definition of the unicorn, Kittle is “something that is highly desirable but difficult to find or obtain.”
Kittle runs routes and catches passes like a wide receiver, but he mixes it up in the trenches like an offensive lineman with his powerful blocking.
Both characteristics have made Kittle indispensable to a San Francisco offense that climbed from 16th in the NFL in total offense in 2018 to fourth in the league in that department last season with Kittle leading the charge as the unit’s shining star and top playmaker.
Denne historien er fra August 2020-utgaven av Niner Report.
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Denne historien er fra August 2020-utgaven av Niner Report.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
EIGHT IS ENOUGH
Set 49ers lineup still has several new starters
Calling all cornerbacks
Loss of Verrett exposes 49ers’ thin depth at CB
Always finding their way to run
49ers system accomplished at developing homegrown talent
ANOTHER COMEBACK?
Resilient veteran Verrett to miss rest of season
TOP 10 Rookie running backs
THE BACK LIST
STOCK UP STOCK DOWN
DEOMMODORE LENOIR | AMBRY THOMAS
Will Mostert run for 49ers again?
Raheem Mostert was primed this year to be the centerpiece of one of the NFL’s most dynamic offenses, featured as the lead performer in San Francisco’s grinding rushing attack while making his climb among the league’s top running backs.
THE WONDER OF WARNER
49ers make All-Pro star highest-paid LB in NFL
Making the right choice at QB
In the weeks that follow after you read this — and perhaps sometime even sooner than that — Kyle Shanahan and the rest of the 49ers organization will make a titanic decision that will have present, future and perhaps even everlasting implications for the franchise. It will chart the course for the team’s pivotal 2021 season while determining whether San Francisco really does have the juice to return to powerhouse status and again be considered a legitimate contender to get back to the Super Bowl.
TOP 10 Linebacker seasons
Fred Warner vaulted to stardom with a spectacular 2020 season — and the 49ers rewarded him this summer with a $95.225 million deal that makes him the highest-paid inside linebacker in NFL history. By today’s standards, Warner’s performance last year was worth the money as he posted an Approximate Value of 19 — matching the highest score ever recorded by a San Francisco defender according to a Pro Football Reference formula that puts a single number on each player-season across all positions since 1960. Patrick Willis and NaVorro Bowman (twice) also had seasons with an AV of 19 as they dominate this list of the greatest individual seasons by a linebacker in 49ers history.
