Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports
Tight end Greg Olsen is a member of the division-rival Seattle Seahawks after nine seasons with the Carolina Panthers. That means he'll have at least two opportunities this season to watch from the sidelines as
George Kittle does George Kittle-type things.
The two teams' first meeting of the season will be on Sunday, November 1, at CenturyLink Field.
This offseason, Olsen had a chance to have a
lengthy conversation with Kittle for the Seahawk tight end's podcast, TE1, on the Blue Wire Podcast network. The episode premiered on Wednesday. Olsen remembers the first time he had an opportunity to watch Kittle first-hand. It was the Niner tight end's first NFL start, and it happened to be against Olsen's Panthers.
Carolina ended up
winning the game — also Kyle Shanahan's first as a head coach — 23-3. Kittle remembers the matchup vividly.
"I come out on the field, it's my first start; they're like, 'Hey, you're just going to start,'" Kittle shared. "I pulled my hammy in camp, right? This was crazy — I pulled my hammy in camp, I missed two weeks, I played one preseason game (
against the Denver Broncos), scored a touchdown, and the next day, they traded Vance McDonald.
"So they're like, 'Hey look, this is your job to lose.' And I was like, 'OK, cool.' And the next day at practice, I tweaked my hammy again."
Kittle sat out the remainder of the preseason and then started during the team's regular-season opener as a rookie.
"The first person I see is Cam Newton warming up right in front of me," Kittle continued. "For some reason, it looked like he was seven feet tall. Just massive. I was like, 'OK, that's cool.'
"First play of the game, I'm pretty sure we run a play-action. I'm blocking Julius Peppers, who I was playing with in Madden 2007. And I was like, 'Dude, this is so cool.' I was like, 'Oh my God!'"
Kittle finished the game with five receptions for 27 yards on six targets.
Olsen and Kittle discuss several other topics during the nearly hour-long conversation, including his football background, what he's learned from other NFL tight ends, pre-game rituals, and more.
Kittle also discusses his trip to Las Vegas with cornerback
Richard Sherman after the loss in Super Bowl LIV.
You can listen to the entire conversation with Kittle below.
San Francisco 49ers tight end George Kittle joined The Rich Eisen Show on Monday. Here are four 49ers-related topics he discussed during the phone interview as his team prepares to face the New England Patriots on Sunday.
Kittle on the Deion Sanders-style into-the-end-zone celebration (pictured above) against the Los Angeles Rams
"We were in the throwbacks. Got to pay a little respect. … Just had a little bit of fun, man. It's something about those all-white throwbacks. They get you all excited."
Kittle on the offense starting to gel
"I think there's still a lot of mistakes for us to correct, but our overall confidence as an offensive unit, like playing together, 11 guys working towards
The San Francisco 49ers lost one of their most influential leaders on offense when Joe Staley retired this offseason. That doesn't mean the six-time Pro Bowl tackle, who spent his entire 13-year NFL career with the Niners, isn't still influencing his former teammates.
After Sunday's embarrassing 43-17 loss to the Miami Dolphins, Staley reached out to George Kittle and offered up some advice to the All-Pro tight end, who is always trying to evolve as a leader for his teammates.
"[Staley] was just, 'Look, you have to hold people accountable, and you have to tell them that you have to hold them to the highest standard because that's what we've done for the last three years, is hold guys to an incredibly high standard,'" Kittle shared with reporters on Thursday. "I'm
While everyone proceeds to write off the San Francisco 49ers following a 43-17 loss to the Miami Dolphins, tight end George Kittle was excited to get back to work this week and prove critics wrong. The team hasn't won a home game this season and has the 4-1 Los Angeles Rams coming into town.
Kittle has no shortage of confidence in his teammates and coaching staff. He feels the 49ers could be on the verge of turning things around, and that starts with a good week of practice, which will, hopefully, lead to a winning performance on Sunday night.
"We had guys that came in today; I thought we had our best practice of the year today," Kittle told reporters today. "Guys were locked in. Our offense was humming. The O-line looked good. We had a great run period. The
