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George Kittle explains how 49ers rookie tight end Charlie Woerner won him over
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It didn't take long for the San Francisco 49ers' sixth-round pick, tight end Charlie Woerner out of Georgia, to impress All-Pro tight end
George Kittle. And it wasn't seeing him haul in some deep pass from a 49ers quarterback during the player-organized workouts in Tennessee that did it. In fact, it was when Woerner got a little bored with the passing reps.
Kittle joined the
Pardon My Take podcast this week and shared the exact moment when he knew he and Woerner were going to work well together.
"I'm excited. Charlie's a good dude," Kittle shared. "We were actually running routes together, and he was like, 'Hey, this passing stuff is kind of boring. When are we going to start talking about run game?'
"And I was like, 'You're my guy. I needed that out of you.'"
You can listen to the entire conversation with Kittle below. It begins at about the 22-minute mark.
Kittle, as you probably know, takes a lot of pride in his blocking. He loves it. He'll take imposing his will against a defender and shoving him back as a Niner running back sprints past them for a big gain over hauling in a deep pass himself.
"The first thing my (college) strength coach said to me was if you want to play tight end at Iowa, you have to learn how to run-block,"
Kittle said last year. "So that's something I took a lot of pride in, and I still do to this day.
"I personally think if you can move a guy from point A to point B against his will, that's a better feeling than scoring a touchdown, in my opinion. If you can put a guy on his back and he doesn't want to be on his back, it's a great feeling. There is not much that can beat that."
Woerner has a similar mentality and is excited to learn from Kittle, who influenced his play at Georgia.
"I'm super pumped to be in the tight end room with [Kittle],"
Woerner said in April after being drafted. "As a guy who blocks a lot at Georgia, I just loved watching him play. Just the way he played at the 49ers this year and how aggressive he is in the blocking game. I love to emulate him and try to be like him in my game."
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