New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick praised San Francisco 49ers tight end George Kittle this week while on a conference call with reporters.
"Kittle is a great player," Belichick said. "He does everything well. I'd put him right at the top of the league there, period. ... He's as good as anybody that I've coached or as good as anybody that we've played against."
Added Belichick: "He's a great player. I don't think there's a tight end in the league, and we've seen a lot of good ones and had a lot of good ones, but I don't think there's anybody in the league that does everything overall as well as he does. He just really doesn't have any weak points at all. Just outstanding at every phase of the game."
Kittle's mom, who scans 49ers news daily, got wind of the comments and forwarded them to her son, as she often does. What did the All-Pro tight end think about Belichick's praise?
"It's incredible, coming from a coach like Coach Belichick, who (is) a future Hall of Fame coach," Kittle said this week on the Adam Schefter Podcast. "He's a guy that, because of the success he's had and how long he's sustained it, he knows what he's talking about. So to get a compliment like that from him, it means a lot. And it just makes me excited, even more, to play this Sunday, go out there, and prove that I belong in that conversation."
Kittle is in his fourth NFL season and has recorded 30 receptions for 380 yards with two touchdowns through four games this season.