Exclusive: Stats secondary for gold standard Kittle

The job head coach Kyle Shanahan and general manager John Lynch have done in transforming the San Francisco 49ers roster since taking the helm in 2017 can hardly be overstated.

When Lynch joined forces with Shanahan to begin the 49ers’ rebuild, they inherited a roster largely devoid of foundational pieces and in dire need of an overhaul. At the end of their seventh season running the show, one in which the Niners secured a fourth playoff berth in five seasons and are the favourites to win Super Bowl 58, San Francisco saw a host of their plethora of stars named to the Pro Bowl.

In total, the 49ers had nine players selected for the NFC team, eight making it as starters, while 12 members of their roster were named as alternates for the NFL’s All-Star week of skills challenges, which culminates in a flag football game.

Taking place a week before the Super Bowl, none of the 21 San Francisco players on the NFC roster and alternates list will have any desire to participate in the Pro Bowl, but for Shanahan there is clear satisfaction in having drafted and developed so many of those stars who earned selection.

“I just think it’s been real cool that most of our Pro Bowlers I feel like have come from here,” Shanahan said. “You just think of some of those guys who came here and now they’re kind of household names and they do it year-in and year-out. It’s cool. You think of some of the stuff we had to go through to build this up and it’s just really cool. We hit on some guys that weren’t only just talented guys but really made of the right stuff, which has allowed them to turn themselves into that and continue to get better each year after.”

One of Shanahan’s greatest success stories is a player selected in his and Lynch’s first draft, with their fifth-round bet on an extremely athletic tight end who was under-utilised at the University of Iowa paying dividends few could have anticipated.

Stardom is not easily attained by tight ends, who because of the nature of the position often play second fiddle to wide receivers in the passing game. On top of that, modern day tight ends have developed a reputation for taking longer to adapt to the NFL than contemporaries at other positions.

George Kittle did not need much of an acclimation period, though his first season was somewhat disrupted by injuries. His second campaign was a historic one. As the featured pass-catcher in the 49er offense, Kittle broke the record for the most receiving yards in a single season by a tight end, racking up 1,377 yards and serving as the primary bright spot in 2018, a year ruined by injuries at the quarterback position.

He broke the record in the regular-season finale an hour after Travis Kelce had done so for the Kansas City Chiefs. A little over a year later, Kittle and Kelce were sharing a podium on the opening media night at Super Bowl 54, firmly established as the two premier tight ends, and two of the largest personalities in the NFL, with Kittle getting the nod in the eyes of many as the most complete player at the position in the league after a season in which his receiving ability, devastating impact as a runner after the catch and unmatched blocking prowess again came to the fore in propelling San Francisco back to the grandest stage in North American sport.

Though certainly not the fault of Kittle, the debate tilted in the favour of Kelce in the subsequent seasons. Kelce snatched the yardage record back in 2020 as a broken bone in his foot derailed Kittle’s fourth year in the NFL, one in which an unprecedented number of injuries robbed the 49ers of any chance of returning to the Super Bowl.

Yet even as he was limited to eight games in the strangest season in NFL history, Kittle still had 634 yards receiving, his efficiency as a receiver and his dominance as a blocker in no doubt. Those qualities were on full display in 2021 and 2022 as Kittle helped the 49ers to successive NFC Championship appearances, albeit while surrendering some of the spotlight to some of the other members of San Francisco’s cavalcade of offensive stars.

With quarterback Brock Purdy spending most of his second season in the NFL in the MVP discussion and running back Christian McCaffrey also having flirted with such recognition, the limelight remains very much shared.

But as Kelce’s rise in celebrity due to his relationship with Taylor Swift has been coupled with a dip in production, Kittle has enjoyed his best season since the Niners’ last trip to the Super Bowl. On New Year’s Eve, he surpassed 1,000 yards receiving for the first time since 2019 and was three days later selected to his fifth Pro Bowl, with Kittle indicating the end to his wait for a third four-figure season is the product of a football acumen superior to what he had four seasons ago.

Speaking exclusively, Kittle said: “It’s always a challenge to get to 1,000 yards. It’s hard to BS your way to that and you know being able to do that on a phenomenal football team is awesome. I’ve improved my game, more understanding of the game and what is required each day and each week, always trying to improve my blocking, which you know not everybody takes into account statistically, but just trying to be my best self every single day.”

Beyond Kittle’s steadfast commitment to constant improvements, two other factors stand out in a hugely impressive 2023. At the time of writing, Kittle had – prior to a regular-season finale in which the 49ers were expected to rest starters having clinched the top seed for the NFC playoffs – played in every game for the first time since 2018, his body holding up against a huge physical toll that is arguably exacerbated by the enthusiasm and physicality with which he attacks every aspect of the game.

“It’s difficult to play all 17 games especially since they added one a couple years ago, but I’m feeling great,” Kittle said. “Week 18 you feel a certain way regardless and you know, if you’re not really incredibly sore then you’re probably not playing the game right, so definitely sore but very excited to continue to play football.”

The axiom goes that the best ability is availability, but a close second for Kittle would be his ability to rapidly establish a rapport with Purdy, an understanding that blossomed down the stretch of the 2022 season as he caught seven of his career-high 11 touchdowns that year after Purdy stepped in for the injured Jimmy Garoppolo.

For the consistently mild mannered Purdy, his connection with Kittle, widely loved for his ebullient persona akin to that of a pro wrestling superstar, is in large part the product of the tight end’s immense football IQ.

“Obviously George is a great personality, he’s fun and stuff, which is all great but man he’s a smart football player, he sees the game like a quarterback does, and tight ends usually do,” Purdy told talkSPORT.

“They’re smart, they have to know the run game, the pass game, they have to be athletic enough to run a route and catch and that’s obviously George, he’s very explosive, those are all great things but more than anything he understands where I need to be, he understands how I see the game, he feels space and I feel that space too, and I just feel like we’re on the same page a lot of the time within our scheme and what we’re trying to do to win.

“He does a great job with that and all I have to do is get him the ball in space and he’s so explosive enough to get the yards after the catch and make all the touchdowns and stuff happen.”

Kittle, meanwhile, attributed their seemingly innate understanding to Purdy’s aptitude for absorbing information from Shanahan, the finest offensive mind of his generation, and implementing that into a playing style that has unquestionably elevated the 49er offense to heights on a par with Shanahan’s fabled 2016 Atlanta Falcons offense.

“I just think Brock’s done such a good job,” said Kittle. “He’s so consistent every single day, he studies, he’s in a meeting room with Coach Shanahan. You know [backups] Sam Darnold, Brandon Allen, [QB coach] Brian Griese, a guy who’s played in the league and played at a high level. So I think he does a really good job of taking what they have to say and learning from them, but also trusting his own instincts and playing the game, how he’s been playing in his entire career.”

It’s impossible to definitively apportion credit for the production delivered by an offense, but what can be in no doubt is that the numbers Kittle has put up this season have re-established him as the clear top tight end in football for the 2023 campaign.

At the time of writing, seven tight ends had received more targets than Kittle’s 89, yet he still led the way with 1,020 receiving yards, while only Sam LaPorta of the Detroit Lions (9) had more touchdowns. Among tight ends with at least 20 targets, Kittle was first in yards per reception (15.7) and yards per route run (2.22), while his 18 receptions of at least 20 yards were five more than his nearest challenger at the position, T.J. Hockenson of the Minnesota Vikings, a former teammate of Kittle at Iowa.

As of Week 17, Kittle had the top run-blocking grade among tight ends with at least 25 run-blocking snaps from analytics site Pro Football Focus. Find any clip of Kittle executing a run block to his desired standard and you will usually see him celebrate it with the same enthusiasm as a touchdown.

In an offense with as many weapons as the 49ers possess, having an unselfish nature and finding joy in creating opportunities for others is a must, and San Francisco’s success in breeding that altruistic culture is illustrated by the fact their offense has four players with over 1,000 yards from scrimmage this season, with Brandon Aiyuk and Deebo Samuel joining McCaffrey and Kittle.

Explaining the pride he and his teammates take in their selfless playing style, Kittle said: “It’s awesome when you have an entire team on offense, who just want success for all their other team-mates, and then they get an opportunity to take advantage of it.

“You know, I keep saying that. There’s so many mouths to feed, which is a good thing because, hey, let’s say Christian gets, you know, three touchdowns, he gets a bunch of targets. All that makes Brandon, Deebo and me want to do is every time we touch the ball, is to try to score as much as possible, try to make plays. And we’re okay with that. Because we’re doing a pretty good job with that, you know, four guys over 1,000 yards, it’s pretty impressive.”

Kittle obviously places tremendous pride in facilitating success for his team-mates, with the gaudy statistics, Pro Bowl honours and the tag of ‘best in the game’ rarely entering the forefront of his mind.

“All I try to do every single day is to be the best version of myself that can possibly be if there’s statistics attached to that, that’s awesome,” added Kittle.

“You know, playing a full season. It’s hard to do. But really just if I can be my best self every single day, I believe in myself to be a very good tight end. All I really care about is what my peers say, what my tape says and what the silent film shows every single week, week in and week out, whether it’s practice or whether it’s on game day, and I think I do a really good job of putting my best self out there all the time.”

Kittle’s silent tape and his statistics have sent the same very loud message, that his best self has been ever present in 2023 and that he has ascended to a level above the rest of his peers at his position. San Francisco fell agonisingly short in the Super Bowl the last time Kittle had a case for being considered the gold standard at tight end. The recognition he has received for an outstanding campaign is well deserved but, with a return to the season-ending showpiece in Las Vegas in touching distance, Kittle’s focus is not on individual acclaim, but on ensuring that his ceaseless quest for self-improvement helps the 49ers finish the job this time around.