George Kittle made it clear again and again, even earlier this week, that he trusts Jimmy Garoppolo as the quarterback of the advancing 49ers.
You can say that the 49ers tight end is getting a little tired of constantly answering questions about his teammate, but he does it to the best of his ability.
Although there is a large faction of 49ers Faithful who wants to leave Garoppolo in this off season, Kittle was asked on Wednesday by Nick Friedell and Sean Salisbury in 95.7 The Game if he had a message for those people who want a fresh start with a new quarterback nearby season.
“My answer as a football player is: this is why we are football players and people who are not watching”, Kittle told Friedell and Salisbury on the “Damon, Ratto and Kolsky” program. “Just the fact that he went to the Super Bowl a year after tearing up his ACL and played the way he played and the level at which he played. If a guy has a good season and can’t play well again, I understand this one.
“But Jimmy throws an incredible ball and has all the other qualities you want in a full-back and that’s what I have to say about it. I don’t think we’ll make it to the Super Bowl without him. If you take his name out of his record of wins and losses and you compare it to when he’s not playing, I don’t know how you don’t choose his record over the last one. “
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Kittle made it clear to Friedell and Salisbury that he believes that Garoppolo will be the defender of the 49ers in 2021, and also defended general manager John Lynch and coach Kyle Shanahan for standing by the defender.
“I know that John Lynch and coach Shanahan came and said that Jimmy is our guy, so I put my faith in these two guys because I think they have made incredible decisions since they were with the Niners,” said Kittle. “I know from experience, Jimmy is a guy who attacks every day. Whether he has a bad or a great game, he arrives the next day with the same guy and brings guys with him and he does it in one He never points the finger at He always takes the blame.
“I think being the defender of the San Francisco 49ers has a lot of expectations. I think, like you said, if he plays well, people love him. And he might have a bad move, people want to throw him under the bus and I think it’s crazy because there’s a lot of spotlight on being the starting defender for the Niners and I think he handles everything at an incredibly high level. And like I said, he brings guys with him, expects greatness from his teammates and when is on the field, the guys play at a high level. I think I’ve talked about his leadership skills more than enough and I think, just like John and Kyle said, he’s our defender and he’s the guy who’s going to lead us back to the Super Bowl. “
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Some 49ers fans have seen enough of Garoppolo to come to the conclusion that he cannot lead the team to the Super Bowl title. But Kittle clearly disagrees and he will compete with the 29-year-old quarterback as long as they are teammates.
It is up to Lynch and Shanahan to decide in this off-season whether they can bring out the best in Garoppolo or whether it is time to move on to another veteran signaler or choose the next defender in the franchise.