San Francisco 49ers tight end George Kittle has caught passes from three different quarterbacks this season. He has been productive with whomever is lined up under center. Kittle has recorded 50 catches for 775 yards with three touchdowns in 2018. His reception yards rank third among NFL tight ends, and he is on a franchise-record pace at his position.
Kittle has made up 21.7 percent of the 49ers' total offense and 34.8 percent of the passing game. His 535 yards after the catch lead all tight ends by a significant margin and rank second in the NFL only to New York Giants running back Saquon Barkley (587), per Pro Football Focus.
Jimmy Garoppolo, C.J. Beathard, and Nick Mullens have each thrown game-day passes to Kittle this season. The tight end joined 95.7 The Game on Tuesday and shared a little bit about what makes each quarterback unique.
"Jimmy G, he's one of the best leaders I've ever been around," Kittle told Damon Bruce. "He's a guy where he's coming down the sideline, and you hear his voice, every single head snaps and just looks at him right away. That's just a thing that he's learned from being a quarterback and being in different places. That's one of his best characteristics.
"C.J., he just never changes. He's always the same no matter if he throws a touchdown or he throws an interception. He's a guy you can count on to stay calm and cool the entire game.
"Just what I've learned from Nick in the two weeks that I've played with him, he plays the game kind of like I do. It's my dream come true to play in the NFL, and it's his as well, so we just go out there with all of our emotion and passion. You can see it whenever he throws a good pass or he throws a touchdown. I think that's a big part of me and Nick's connection so far in the two games that we've played together, is just our love for the game, and it's pretty fun."
49ers players are currently enjoying some much-needed time off. When Kittle and his teammates return from their bye week, they will focus on winning. San Francisco may be 2-8 right now, but the second-year tight end enters every game with the same mindset.
"Expect to win every game," Kittle said. "That's something I learned at Iowa. You expect to win every game. You don't go out there like, 'We're 10-point underdogs. We might lose.' I fully expect, every time we touch the field, we're going to win. It doesn't matter who we're playing against. I think that's the mindset of a lot of guys on the team and once everybody gets there, I feel like the ship will be going perfectly straight.
"I fully believe in Coach Shanahan and Mr. Lynch. We're going to win a lot of games, at some point."
You can listen to the entire conversation with Kittle, which begins at about the 27:50 mark, below.
