San Francisco 49ers tight end Ross Dwelley is having a good training camp and could be setting himself up for a breakout season in 2021.
"Ross is a very dependable guy who has as good of hands as anyone on our team," head coach Kyle Shanahan said last week.
That's high praise for a player on a team with arguably the best tight end in football, George Kittle.
Shanahan added that Dwelley is becoming a dependable target for the team's quarterbacks, and the tight end is gaining confidence each year he remains in the system.
"You know, we had to throw him into a bunch of roles last year with Kittle being out for so long, and the more roles he gets thrown in, the more he'll surprise you and the better he gets," Shanahan said.
Kittle joined KNBR today and tossed more praise toward his teammate. Dwelley's improvement since last year has been noticeable.
"You know, one of the biggest changes I've seen in Ross is just his mindset this camp," Kittle shared with Greg Papa and John Lund. "He's been very aggressive with all of his route running. He's not second-guessing himself. He's just attacking, and that's what I love to see.
"He's ripping through edges. He's getting open in all of his routes. He's making all the hard catches, which he's always made all the hard catches. He has fantastic hands. He has a very good natural feel for where he needs to be in routes, in zones, and stuff like that.
"And he continually gets better in the run game. Like, he came in, I think, at 230, and I know that he's like 245-ish right now, and so he can hold his own in the run game. He can be a solo-wide, go actually block the edge."
Dwelley had his best season last year, thanks to the increased snap count. An undrafted free agent out of San Diego in 2018, the tight end produced 245 receiving yards and a touchdown on 19 receptions through 16 games and nine starts in 2020.
"Like, he's just getting better at all aspects of his game, and that's on him," Kittle continued. "He's a guy that trains down by himself in San Diego ... I think he uses our strength staff's training program, and he just trains by himself. But he knows what it takes to play at a high level in the NFL, and he's a guy that pushes me.
"He inspires me to be better every single day because he just goes out there and makes plays. He doesn't complain about anything. It doesn't matter about the reps. It doesn't matter about the route. It doesn't matter the circumstance. He just goes out there and makes plays continuously.
"Ross is going to be an asset to our offense this year. He's shown that in camp with all the plays he's making. He's just going to continue to get better and better and better."
You can listen to the entire conversation with Kittle below.