The 49ers have finalized a contract extension for George Kittle, and they’re working on Brock Purdy. That’s been a great combo.
Kittle filled an unusually large role in San Francisco’s offense last year, in part because of injuries to Brandon Aiyuk and Christian McCaffrey. And Deebo Samuel had an off year. In the 15 games Kittle played, he caught over 40 percent of the team’s touchdowns.
Recall also that Kittle ignited when Purdy took over at quarterback for the final five games of the 2022 season, catching 7 touchdowns.
In their two full seasons together, Kittle has averaged 14.9 yards per catch, almost 2 more than any other tight end. He’s averaged 11.3 and 11.8 yards per play the last two seasons, two of the four best seasons by tight ends (using that metric) of the last 30 years. They’re great.
Now Kittle has had some injury issues. He’s played only one full season in eight years. So fair to pencil in him for some time in the shop.
But the upside is appealing. In his 34 games with Purdy at quarterback, Kittle has averaged 4.6 catches for 68 yards, with 20 touchdowns. That chalks out to 14.9 points per week (using PPR scoring). Among tight ends who’ve started over half the time over the last two years, that’s better than all of them.
Out of curiosity, I also ran the numbers for Kittle with other quarterbacks – mostly Jimmy Garoppolo, but also some others. I looked at the last 34 games (to get an equal number). The catch and yardage numbers are similar (5.0 catches for 64 yards), but with only 14 touchdowns. So in a PPR league, he’s been worth about a point more per week with Purdy at quarterback.
The chart below shows tight ends who’ve started half the time over the past two years and averaged at least 8 points per week. The customized Kittle numbers in bold are a little wonky in that they also include some games before the 2023-24 time period. (And the chart turned out a little lame in that there’s not as much spread between the two Kittles as I was expecting.)
But a nice player. I was thinking he’d be near the bottom 10 among tight ends on my board, but I’m coming around on him. Not crazy about the injury risk, but I’m thinking he’s more of a top-5 guy at tight end.
| TIGHT ENDS AVERAGING 8 PPR POINTS (2023-24) | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | St | No | Yards | TD | PPR |
| Brock Bowers | 17 | 6.6 | 70.2 | .29 | 15.5 |
| Kittle (Purdy) | 34 | 4.6 | 67.9 | .59 | 14.9 |
| • George Kittle | 31 | 4.6 | 68.4 | .45 | 14.2 |
| Kittle (others) | 34 | 5.0 | 63.9 | .41 | 13.9 |
| Travis Kelce | 31 | 6.1 | 58.3 | .26 | 13.5 |
| David Njoku | 27 | 5.4 | 51.4 | .43 | 13.1 |
| Trey McBride | 33 | 5.8 | 59.7 | .21 | 13.1 |
| Sam LaPorta | 33 | 4.4 | 48.9 | .54 | 12.5 |
| Evan Engram | 26 | 6.2 | 51.1 | .21 | 12.5 |
| T.J. Hockenson | 25 | 5.4 | 56.6 | .20 | 12.3 |
| Mark Andrews | 27 | 3.7 | 45.1 | .63 | 12.0 |
| Jonnu Smith | 34 | 4.1 | 43.1 | .32 | 10.3 |
| Dallas Goedert | 24 | 4.2 | 45.3 | .21 | 10.0 |
| Tucker Kraft | 24 | 3.2 | 42.5 | .39 | 9.8 |
| Zach Ertz | 24 | 3.9 | 35.0 | .36 | 9.5 |
| Jake Ferguson | 31 | 4.2 | 40.5 | .16 | 9.2 |
| Cole Kmet | 34 | 3.5 | 35.1 | .30 | 8.9 |
| Hunter Henry | 30 | 3.6 | 36.4 | .27 | 8.8 |
| Isaiah Likely | 24 | 2.7 | 33.5 | .46 | 8.8 |
| Dalton Kincaid | 29 | 4.0 | 38.7 | .14 | 8.7 |
| Pat Freiermuth | 29 | 3.3 | 33.1 | .32 | 8.6 |
| Dalton Schultz | 32 | 3.5 | 36.5 | .22 | 8.5 |
| Cade Otton | 31 | 3.4 | 34.0 | .27 | 8.4 |
—Ian Allan