Tight end George Kittle is in his second season with the San Francisco 49ers. Head coach Kyle Shanahan gave his players four days off following the team's 34-3 victory over the Oakland Raiders last Thursday night. For Kittle, it was his first opportunity to drive from the Santa Clara area to San Francisco to finally take in the sights and play tourist.
Kittle joined KNBR on Wednesday morning and shared some details of his excursion 40-or-so miles north. He was also asked about his new starting quarterback, Nick Mullens, who made his NFL debut against the Raiders.
"When I saw him before the game at the hotel, pregame meal, he was just dialed in," Kittle said on the "Murph & Mac" show. "He was ready to roll. A little bit different than you see every other day. He was definitely locked in. He flipped a switch, and it was pretty exciting to see it carry over through warmups and leading to the game. He was definitely focused and at a higher level."
The 49ers offense didn't skip a beat with the switch of quarterback. In fact, many would argue that it showed drastic improvement over recent weeks. Shanahan showed confidence in Mullens, who played because C.J. Beathard was dealing with a wrist and thumb injury, during the days leading to the quarterback's start.
Mullens completed 16 of his 22 pass attempts for 262 yards with three touchdowns and a passer rating of 151.9 against the Raiders. He was officially named the starter for the 49ers' Week 10 matchup against the New York Giants next Monday night.
"As soon as he stepped in the huddle, it kind of felt like he'd been in there the whole season," Kittle said. "It wasn't like we missed a beat or anything like that. That's just a credit to him, the preparation he puts in every single day, that he's put in since he's got here, just going over every single call, being as prepared as Coach Shanahan for every game.
"He's prepared himself, so him not missing a beat really wasn't that surprising to everybody."
As for Kittle, the tight end is having an impressive sophomore NFL season. He has 41 receptions for 692 yards with three touchdowns through nine games. That puts him on pace for 73 catches for 1,230 yards, which would be a franchise record. Only six tight ends in NFL history have had 1,200-or-more yards in a single season.
"Kittle is averaging 16.88 yards on his 41 receptions this season," noted our own Levin T. Black. "That's the highest yards per reception for a tight end with at least 40 receptions in a season since 1981."
Kittle is likely headed toward a Pro Bowl selection that could include other post-season NFL honors. For now, he is focused on the games that remain on the 49ers' schedule.
"It's just kind of something you have to put on the back burner and not put a lot of energy into," Kittle said. "It's there. Got to keep playing well. Like I said, there's seven games left so got to play those seven games to ultimately get to those goals."
You can listen to the entire conversation with Kittle below.