Prolific 49ers TE Kittle takes great joy in run blocking
SANTA CLARA, CALIF. >> No tight end in NFL history has been as productive as George Kittle at catching the ball over the first three years of a career.
A player that skilled as a receiver might be expected to ask, or even demand, for the ball to come his way plenty of times on offense.
But instead of spending his time telling his coaches on the San Francisco 49ers or quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo how open he is, Kittle has other play-calling requests instead.
“Everyone knows what he’s done in the pass game, but he has never once in three years came up to me during a game and said, ‘Hey I need this route.’ Or, ‘Hey we’ve got to do this,’” coach Kyle Shanahan said. “He’s never once came up to me about a pass play, but he comes up to me about every seven plays about what type of run play we need to do, who we need to allow him to hit, things like that. It makes it very fun to call plays for him.”
For as accomplished a receiver as Kittle may be with his 197 catches and 2,664 yards receiving ranking as the most ever by a tight end through three seasons, it’s his ability as a run blocker that truly sets him apart from some of the other top tight ends in the league who do most of their work in the passing game.
That skill was on display last week when Kittle’s blocking helped the Niners
(14-3) generate a franchise-playoff record 47 carries for 186 yards in a 2710 victory over Minnesota. Right tackle Mike McGlinchey said Kittle has the mentality of an offensive lineman and is one of the key components of the running game.
“That’s what’s really cool about George and the best part about him,” McGlinchey said. “He takes more pride in how he’s doing in the run game than he does in the pass game even though he’s the best at both.”
The 49ers’ running game looks completely different when Kittle is healthy and is able to seal the edge with his blocks that help fuel the outside zone running game. San Francisco averaged only
2.9 yards per carry in three games when Kittle was either sidelined or severely limited by injuries to his knee and ankle. That compares to a 4.8 yard average in the other games.