George Kittle shares candid thoughts on Kyle Shanahan, 49ers’ offseason

San Francisco 49ers tight end George Kittle has spent his entire eight-year NFL career under head coach Kyle Shanahan. While Kittle hasn't worked with any other head coaches in the league, he appreciates being able to work with a player-first coach like Shanahan, who values strong relationships with his team.

Kittle joined The Pat McAfee Show on Friday morning and spoke openly about his connection with Shanahan. The veteran tight end praised the coach for maintaining a consistent, approachable presence in the building.

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"One of my favorite things about Coach Shanahan is that he has a 24/7 open-door policy," Kittle said. "If somebody has a question for him, if someone wants to know where they stand with the team, someone has an idea, his office is always open—unless, let's say, he's in some private meeting or something like that. But any player can go in at any time. And so, I really, really respect that about him."

Kittle added that his bond with Shanahan extends beyond the football field. However, it's clear the tight end also respects his coach as a brilliant strategist.

"I like to golf with him down in Cabo in the offseason, and then I like to win football games with him in the fall," Kittle said. "He holds us all accountable. He definitely puts a lot of pressure on all of the guys on the team that have to help us win games, but one of the things he does really well is he doesn't put guys in a position where they're not going to succeed.

"He doesn't ask guys to do crazy things. He is like, 'Look, I drafted you for this reason. This is what I know that you're really good at. I'm going to try to get you to do this as many times as you possibly can.' And he does that for the entire roster, which is pretty special. He's not out there just pulling stuff out of his ass. He's pretty smart when it comes to that stuff."

Early offseason exit brought unexpected benefits

While the 2024 season didn't go as planned for the San Francisco 49ers—finishing with a disappointing 6-11 record and landing in last place in the NFC West—the early end to their campaign came with one silver lining: a rare early start to the offseason. It marked the first time since 2020 that the team didn't make a deep playoff run, giving players more time to rest, recover, and reconnect.

Player participation in the voluntary offseason program was nearly perfect. By the time organized team activities (OTAs) rolled around, the facility was buzzing with energy and packed with players. According to Kittle, that hasn't always been the case.

"This year, your season ends in January, you get that extra month off," Kittle said. "Whether you vacation, take care of your body, whatever you do, that itch to play football and hang out with the boys comes back a little bit quicker. And so, I think everybody just wanted to be back in the building.

"And having everybody there, just practicing every day, working out together every day, sitting in meetings every day, it's just really fun. And you kind of build that team chemistry a little bit."

In previous years, Kittle noted that 10 to 15 players would often skip the early stages of the offseason program, which included him.

"And now, everybody was there since Phase One," Kittle said. "So, you just build those relationships a little bit quicker, get to see guys make plays. We have a ton of free agents. We have a ton of young guys. There's some openings on our roster; that's pretty obvious.

"We've had a lot of departures, key departures, and a lot of opportunities for young guys to step up and take advantage of those opportunities. Seeing those guys kind of make some cool plays during OTAs was kind of fun to see, and hopefully, that just carries over into camp."