First off, Kittle actually first injured his ribs last year before the Week 9 contest against the Oakland Raiders. That's just when it finally gave out on him and cracked.
Second, defensive end Kentavius Street is strong. Really strong.
"I've seen him squat like 600 pounds multiple times," Kittle said. "So that's not bad."
Third, rookie defensive end Nick Bosa's quads probably come in behind Street, said Kittle.
"I need to see him and Saquon (Barkley) next to each other," he added. "They've both got the quads. Bosa looks like a G.I. Joe. After practice in the weight room, I was like, 'What is going on here?' He looks like an action figure. I have to work for it, and he just shows up Day 1 like an action figure right out of the box."
Kittle went on to discuss where the team is following its sixth practice of training camp. He says the 49ers almost have all of the play installs done and he feels optimistic about how things are going so far.
"A lot of plays get thrown at you all the time," Kittle said. "Young guys kind of make mistakes here and there. But I think overall, this is the best start to a camp we've ever had, just in my last three years being here. We've got a lot of guys making plays. We've got a lot of guys that are stepping up, growing up.
"Kendrick Bourne is a guy that just jumps off the page for me. He's made a bunch of plays for us early in camp. That's one thing I really, really like to see. And Trent Taylor's back, which is really, really fun to see because he's cooking dudes left and right, which is awesome."
And about Taylor skipping out on offseason training with Kittle and quarterback C.J. Beathard in Nashville, Tennessee, the tight end explained that the whole reason he was there was because he figured Taylor would be there too.
"I was like, 'Hey, Trent, really the big reason I came down here was because you were down here,'" Kittle said.
How did Taylor respond?
"He was like, 'Yeah, well, that sucks for you,'" Kittle said. "I was like, 'Oh, cool. That's awesome.'"
You can listen to the entire conversation with Kittle below.
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