San Francisco 49ers tight end George Kittle's statistics for this season don't jump out at you. He has 17 catches for 165 yards and has yet to reach the end zone. Kittle is on pace for 880 receiving yards, which would be significantly fewer than the record-breaking 1,377 he had last year.
Still, Kittle so far has earned Pro Football Focus' highest overall grade in the NFL. The Pro Bowl tight end's 92.7 grade tops the league regardless of position and edges Chicago Bears linebacker Khalil Mack's 91.8 overall grade.
Through 4 weeks @gkittle46's @PFF grade of 92.7 is the highest in the NFL💪 pic.twitter.com/FACM8Le7mN
— San Francisco 49ers (@49ers) October 1, 2019
As he did last season, Kittle leads the 49ers in receptions and receiving yards. He also leads the team in targets (20), according to Pro Football Focus. Kittle's yards after the catch average (6.2) leads qualifying NFL tight ends and his 85 percent reception percentage tops last year's mark of 68.8 percent.
Field Yates of ESPN joined KNBR on Tuesday morning and shared that he is just waiting for Kittle to explode on offense, much as he did last year, and lift the 49ers to another level.
"On offense, George Kittle, yet to score a touchdown," Yates said on the "Murph and Mac" show. "One of the dynamic playmakers, period, in the NFL. I'd imagine that defensive coordinators are kind of just waiting with bated breath, but in a bad way, for when Kittle gets going.
"I know he had a couple of scores taken off the board, at least one in Week 1 against the Buccaneers, but that's kind of a scary thought. If you haven't played the 49ers yet and you're Browns defensive coordinator Steve Wilks, you know he knows, amongst other players, what Kittle can do having been the Cardinals head coach last year.
"George Kittle still hasn't hit full-on Kittle nastiness, and that right there is an area that can really take this offense to another level."
You can listen to the entire conversation with Kittle below.