By now, when the “People’s Tight End” talks, it’s best to listen. Especially for opponents set to face George Kittle and the San Francisco 49ers.
While 2023 training camp doesn’t begin until another three months, there’s already the thought about how scary the 49ers offense will be with all the weapons at their disposal — including one who gets his first full season in S.F. soon in Christian McCaffrey.
Speaking with The Pat McAfee Show on Wednesday, April 5, Kittle fired off his early warning for 2023.
“If you’re going to double team me and then you have the single cover Deebo [Samuel], Brandon [Aiyuk], Christian McCaffrey, Jauan Jennings, hey, good luck, man. Good luck,” Kittle shared.
But with “Run CMC” set to get 17 regular season games in a 49ers uniform, there’s the new thought that his involvement in the offense will potentially diminish Kittle and his touches. Kittle reacted to that thought — including realizing he’ll upset some fantasy football people.
“Hey, if I have one catch a game, I know my fantasy football coaches will be really mad at me for that. It is what it is,” Kittle said on the show. “As long as we’re winning games, we’re feeding the right guys the ball, I’m never going to get mad at Christian McCaffrey if he has 20 carries and 10 catches for 300 total yards. I’ll never be upset about that because he’s such a talented football player.”
This Offense More Fun for Kittle?
Kittle has put together a string of dominating seasons. Many fans believe he’s hitting his prime years as a back-to-back Pro Bowl pick before he officially turns 30.
But is this version of the 49ers’ offense one already set up to be the most fun he’s been on in his years in the Bay Area? One look at the projected lineup for the ’23 season — from McCaffrey, to Brandon Aiyuk coming off his first 1,000-yard receiving season, to Samuel also being paired for a full year with CMC — and it fuels the energy for Kittle.
“So it’s really fun to be on a team that does have a problem of too many mouths to feed because Coach [Kyle] Shanahan does such a great job of scheming everybody into getting certain plays and stuff. And it’s just really fun to be a part of an offense like that, that has so much talent on it,” he said.
49ers Add 2 New Skill Players in Latest Mock Draft
With the talent surrounding Kittle, there’s still the thought of the 49ers adding to it in both the perimeter and the backfield.
Pro Football Network on Saturday, April 8 unveiled their newest mock draft and has the Niners adding two more skill position talents in day three of the draft. They are:
Zach Evans, running back, Ole Miss: PFN has the Rebels standout going at No. 164 in round five. The 6-foot, 215-pounder was described by PFN as a “long strider” who comes with long track explosiveness on the field. Evans rushed for 936 yards and scored nine rushing touchdowns in 2022.
Dontayvion Wicks, wide receiver, Virginia: The tall 6-foot-2, 208-pounder is projected to land at No. 216 in the sixth round to S.F. The Cavalier had a down 2022 with just 30 grabs for 430 yards and two touchdowns in eight games — but his 2021 production saw 57 receptions, 1,203 yards, nine touchdowns and an astronomical 21.1 yards per catch.
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George Kittle Sends Stirring Warning to 2023 49ers’ Opponents