George Kittle just keeps getting better. He’s 31, which means he should be on the downside of his career, but he’s not. He’s arguably having the best season of his career. He has 43 catches for 560 yards and 7 touchdowns.
George Kittle just keeps getting better.
He’s 31, which means he should be on the downside of his career, but he’s not. He’s arguably having the best season of his career. He has 43 catches for 560 yards and 7 touchdowns. He leads the team in all those statistics. And that’s because he has become the best red-zone weapon on the 49ers.
On Tuesday, I asked Kittle how he has improved in the red zone. Here’s what he said.
ME: At the beginning of practice when you catch passes with your tight end coach draped all over you, are you simulating what you do in the red zone?
KITTLE: “Yeah. Usually during the special teams period, some guys don’t do stuff which is totally fine, but my tight ends coach says, ‘Hey, let’s try to get something out of these 10 minutes.’ Whether that’s contested catches, over the shoulder for deep passes, back-shoulder passes, toe-touches on the sideline which somehow I’ve gotten a couple of those this year. Things that could happen in every single game. I just try to get as many reps of those as I can throughout the week.”
ME: Do you think you’re having the best season of your career?
KITTLE: “Yes and no. Honestly, my run tape hasn’t been my favorite. I played pretty crappy against Dallas in the run game, so there’s always things you can work on. I think the receiving stuff is doing really well. I’m getting a ton of targets in the red zone so the stats jump out at you. I do appreciate having 53 targets in eight games. The passing game is doing really well but could definitely play better, which is fun to know.”