Tight end George Kittle is due a big payday. Maybe his teammate, San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Kendrick Bourne, should do his negotiating, especially if Kittle is looking for something closer to receiver money.
Kittle's on-field play may speak for itself, but that didn't stop Bourne from hyping the tight end on Tuesday during an interview on KNBR. The fourth-year receiver was asked to identify some of the players who are good at motivating the team on game days.
Bourne named Kwon Alexander, Deebo Samuel, and even threw in a surprising name—Laken Tomlinson. Then he was reminded about Kittle and sounded shocked that he omitted the name.
Maybe Kittle is just assumed.
Or maybe Bourne didn't mention Kittle because the often outspoken tight end takes on a different attitude before games.
"Gotta be Kittle. There you go," Bourne said on the Tolbert, Krueger & Brooks show when reminded about his teammate. "He's hype. Kittle's a different beast before the game, though. He goes into demon mode. He's different. He ain't too much smiling like me. You might get a smile here and there, but he's in a different zone.
"You know how he plays. He plays different than us receivers. We don't want to be touched. He's all with the hits. Trust me, he's going into tackles."
Kittle takes pride in his blocking, is never one to avoid contact with a defender, and relishes the opportunity to move someone from point A to point B.
Oh, and he is a pretty good receiver too.
Kittle has posted back-to-back seasons of 1,000-plus yards receiving, and earned two Pro Bowl selections and was named a first-team All-Pro in the process.
"He'll run like a four-yard route, simple stick route, then all of a sudden, he's 60 yards down the field," Bourne continued. "Like, 'Bro, you're this fast too, at this size?' ... You can't find that kind of talent. That's diamond-in-the-rough talent. It's so crazy."
You can listen to the entire conversation with Bourne below.