49ers star George Kittle talks Kyle Pitts' potential, how Jimmy Garoppolo will handle competition and more
Kittle spoke with CBS Sports ahead of the 2021 NFL Draft

The San Francisco 49ers are potentially entering a new era in 2021. John Lynch and Kyle Shanahan made an aggressive move up the draft board last month, as they traded their first-round pick (No. 12 overall) along with a third-round pick and two future firsts to the Miami Dolphins to move up to No. 3 overall in the 2021 NFL Draft. It's safe to assume the 49ers will be drafting a quarterback with that top pick, but as for which one, that's still up for debate.
Whoever that new quarterback is, he will be walking into a favorable situation. The 49ers have an elite defense, a talented offensive line led by left tackle Trent Williams and a young but versatile wide receiving corps. Last but certainly not least, this new rookie quarterback will have one of the best tight ends in the game to rely on in George Kittle.
Kittle recently sat down with CBS Sports to discuss a couple of topics related to the 2021 NFL Draft, how his quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo will handle a rookie signal-caller being selected and what he has been up to in the offseason. Kittle played in just eight games last year due to knee and foot injuries, but he's back healthy and has been training with some of his fellow tight ends in Tennessee. When not training, Kittle has been spending the offseason filming commercials in a makeshift wrestling ring. Recently, he teamed up with Detroit Lions tight end T.J. Hockenson and Kingsford to promote their new 100 percent Hardwood Pellets. Kittle, an avid pro wrestling fan, helped turn a grilling commercial into a dynamic showcase:
Can you smell what I’m cooking? 100% flavor baby. @Kingsford Hardwood Pellets. The People’s Tight End & @TheeHOCK8 #KingsfordPartner #FullFlavorGuarantee pic.twitter.com/bpiVtB82j3
— George Kittle (@gkittle46) April 22, 2021
"They let me hit stuff with a steel chair, I got to kick a bunch of stuff, I got to slam some stuff, I did an RKO on a bag of pellets. It was fun," Kittle said. "I wasn't even really acting, like we were just having a blast the whole time."
Kittle says he has enjoyed plenty of bacon-wrapped filets with garlic butter this offseason, but most of his attention has remained on football. Like every football fan, he has been eagerly awaiting the 2021 NFL Draft. This class is talented, but there's a tight end who is expected to be taken early that could have an immediate Kittle-like impact on the league: Florida's Kyle Pitts.
Pitts is arguably the best player in this deep class, as he caught 43 passes for 770 yards and 12 touchdowns in just eight games last season for the Gators. He was a unanimous All-American and was honored as the best tight end in college football with the John Mackey Award. Pitts is not your normal tight end, however, as he runs routes and makes catches like a wide receiver and has athleticism that will allow him to stand out immediately. It was hard to miss his highlight-reel plays in 2020, and Kittle said that he was pretty impressed with what he saw from the versatile 20-year-old.
"So whenever we had Saturday hotel meetings and we did dinner there, they had college games up. So they would usually have Florida up and Kyle Pitts is always balling out," said Kittle. "I mean, he's going to be a fantastic football player. The games I've seen him play, he's incredibly explosive, he seems like a smart football player and he makes the right decisions when he has the ball in his hands. He also scores two touchdowns a game so I'd say he's going to be a beast. I just hope that someone drafts him and lets him just be him, and they don't try to make him do stuff that he hasn't been doing. Just let that guy go. He's going to be a special talent as long as he goes to the right team."
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When Kittle was asked if he had any advice to give a young tight end coming into the league, he said they should remain confident, but take their new job in the NFL seriously.
"Be yourself, and then just every decision that you make in your life, make sure it's one step towards your dream of winning the Super Bowl or being a Hall of Famer," Kittle said. "So, everything that you do whether that's a decision maybe not go out on Friday night two nights before the game, don't do that. Make the right decisions and play football for as long as you can because there is a limited number of snaps you'll be able to take over the course of your career. Enjoy the whole thing though, because it's really fun."
A few analysts give some credence to the notion that maybe the 49ers could take Pitts at No. 3 overall. Kittle said teaming up with another versatile tight end would be great, but that he would love the pick even more because it would create havoc atop the draft.
"I would love it," Kittle said when asked if he would support the 49ers drafting Pitts. "But honestly, what I want to happen, I want the Jacksonville Jaguars to draft Kyle Pitts and then the whole draft is just completely screwed up.
"It would be amazing. I'm all for mayhem on draft day. I wanna see trades, I wanna see everything."
It's much more likely that the 49ers draft either quarterback Trey Lance out of North Dakota State or Mac Jones out of Alabama. Garoppolo's future with the 49ers is legitimately in question, and he could be traded away this weekend. Still, there is a chance he could stay on roster, so we asked Kittle how Garoppolo would react to San Francisco using a top draft pick to put pressure on him.
"Jimmy G is a competitor," Kittle said. "He has been since I met him, since we traded for him four years ago. He's just always come in and competed every single day and I appreciate that of him. A lot of guys don't have to compete. They can get signed to a massive contract and they can say 'Hey I'm good.' Jimmy G wants to be great, and I know that out of him and I love that out of him so I think competition makes the best out of you. You get better from competition. So whoever we draft -- quarterback, tight end, wide receiver, fullback, I'm just looking forward to meeting that guy because he's going to share the same logo on the side of his helmet just like me."
Shanahan was asked on Monday if he could guarantee that Garoppolo would be on the roster by the end of the 2021 NFL Draft. The 49ers head coach responded in dark fashion, stating, "I can't guarantee that anybody in the world will be alive Sunday."
Kittle had some fun with that quote on social media, and told us that he has heard some things like this from Shanahan before, and he absolutely loves it.
"Awesome," Kittle said. "I've heard that one in different contexts like two or three times over the course of my career, but I absolutely love it. People say, 'Oh it's morbid, it's kind of dark.' I think it's hilarious."
Everyone wants to know what the 49ers are going to do with that No. 3 overall pick, and if you try to ask a question in an attempt to make headlines, you're going to get an answer that makes headlines. Just not in the way you would expect. Many NFL fans, including Kittle, are rooting for mayhem in the 2021 NFL Draft. More likely than not, they are going to get just that.
















