Nearly 3,000 receiving yards, 12 touchdowns, back-to-back seasons of over 1,000 receiving yards, the single-season record holder for receiving yards by a tight end, two Pro Bowl selections, first-team All-Pro honors, and being ranked No. 7 on the NFL Top 100 Players of 2020. That's all part of George Kittle's resume through his first three NFL seasons.
And you may not have seen his best yet.
The San Francisco 49ers tight end joined 95.7 The Game on Wednesday morning and was asked what he does to find the hunger to climb back up to the mountaintop after suffering defeat in a Super Bowl.
"Honestly, there's not really any need to find the hunger," Kittle said on The Morning Show. "I have said a hundred times, I get paid to play football, which is my dream job. My hunger is that I always want to be the best version of me I can be."
Kittle recently signed a five-year, $75 million contract extension that will keep him with San Francisco, the team that made him a fifth-round draft pick out of Iowa in 2017, for the foreseeable future. He hauled in 85 passes for 1,053 yards with five touchdowns last season, helping his team to 13 regular-season wins, a division championship, and a trip to the Super Bowl.
That isn't enough for Kittle, though.
"I think I had a good year last year, but you can always improve upon it," Kittle continued. "I mean, No. 7 (in the Top 100), you can always get better, right? It is what it is.
"No one really cares about the year before. It's all what's going to happen in front of you, so I just try to prepare like this is going to be my best season, and that's what my plan is."
You can listen to the entire interview with Kittle below.