San Francisco 49ers tight end George Kittle joined the 6 AM (PT) hour of Good Morning Football on Friday and was as entertaining as always. That includes subtly mocking an ESPN poll which got his name wrong by wearing a name tag that read "Greg Kittle" to some quick responses to Nate Burleson, who dished out some reasons why the NFC West will be so challenging during the upcoming season.
Despite winning just four games last season and 10 games over the past two years, there is a positive vibe in the 49ers locker room because the players know the team is headed in the right direction. Peter Schrager asked Kittle about the mentality in that locker room.
"Everyone is super positive all the time," Kittle said. "I think we had 19 guys on the IR last year which is really hard, but I think we're building. We have the right foundation. We've got Mike (McGlinchey) in last year's draft. We've got Dante Pettis. We have a lot of guys from my (draft) class that are stepping up.
"I feel like we're really going in the right direction. You throw in a guy like Jimmy (Garoppolo), you throw in Dee Ford, Kwon (Alexander), and then Joe Staley, who's the vet. He's incredible, and he brings everyone along with him. So every single day is really fun, and I'm just looking forward to getting back to work."
Saying Kittle had an impressive sophomore NFL campaign would be an understatement. He set a new NFL record for single-season receiving yards by a tight end after playing through an injury-plagued season the year before. The performance earned him his first Pro Bowl selection.
Kay Adams asked Kittle what went so right during his record-breaking season?
"A big part of it was I spent a lot of the offseason just really focused on getting healthy because I was banged up a lot my rookie year," Kittle responded. "I think I gained a lot more muscle, trained a lot harder, just had a better mindset going in. Just learning from guys that have already been playing in the NFL.
"Then things just clicked during the season. From Jimmy to C.J. (Beathard) to Nick (Mullens), I had three good quarterbacks throwing me the ball left and right. Coach Shanahan schemes up things left and right. No one else can really do stuff like he can so he just gave me opportunities to get the ball."