Many believed George Kittle could have a breakout season in 2018. No one predicted he would become the NFL single-season record holder for receiving yards by a tight end and have an 88-catch, 1,377-yard season with five touchdowns. Even more impressive is the fact that Kittle did so in just his second season as a pro.
The San Francisco 49ers tight end gives a lot of credit to his head coach and play caller, Kyle Shanahan, who, despite having won just 10 games over the past two years, is still viewed by many around the NFL as one of the top offensive minds in the game.
Kittle is in Atlanta, Georgia this week taking in the festivities leading to Super Bowl 53 and promoting his partnership with Skittles. He joined Pro Football Talk Live from Radio Row on Thursday and shared what it's like playing for Shanahan.
"I think I'm one of the luckiest guys in the NFL," Kittle said. "Just to be around that creativity. Literally, I feel like I'm open half the time I'm on the field and that's just his schemes and his play actions and stuff. It's just really fun to be on a team with a guy that thinks like that."
What was even more impressive about Kittle's performance this past season is that he broke the record while catching passes from three different quarterbacks. One of the reasons experts predicted a big year from the young tight end was because he would have quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo for a full season.
Garoppolo went down with a torn ACL in Week 3.
Instead of fans being treated to the Garoppolo-to-Kittle connection for 16 games, the tight end went on to catch passes from second-year quarterbacks C.J. Beathard and then Nick Mullens.
Kittle was asked how much bigger of a year he feels he might have had with a healthy Garoppolo throwing him the football.
"Jimmy G, he's really good," Kittle responded. "I wish you guys could see all the stuff he does in practice because you guys have just been kind of teased on what he can do, just like the six games he played for us, and then the two-and-a-half that he played for us this season.
"He's going to do a lot of good things for us, and I think he's going to help out everybody on the roster."
The 49ers hope to have Garoppolo throwing and doing some non-contact work during organized team activities, which begin in late-May. The quarterback is expected to be completely healthy by the start of the 2019 season.
Kittle shared earlier on Thursday what it is like catching passes from Garoppolo.
"I don't know if he's doing OTAs yet, but I'm just looking forward to being able to catch the ball from him because, I don't know if you guys know this, he throws a really pretty pass," Kittle said on KNBR. "It's one of those balls that you pluck it out of the air. You don't have to go up. It's just natural to catch."