It was actually lauded as the "most athletic TE class in NFL history". Lot's of black TEs were drafted before Kittle was finally selected in round 5. Most of those "athletic" TEs have been average so far. Kittle has obviously outperformed all of them.
Another white player that should be mentioned in the future combine thread. Don will be putting that thread together in a week or so. I was going to start it, but I want it done correctly. So much information about the athleticism of our white players! I'm looking forward to it! I hope we can find all the past and present information on white players that were screwed despite the numbers! As well as the future combine numbers white players will be putting up.George was drafted in the fifth round but he's getting lots of positive publicity, considerably more than the far more hyped black TEs taken well ahead of him in the first two rounds. He has a great chance to start as a rookie for a rebuilding 49ers team. This is what John Lynch said about him recently:
The Niners GM, John Lynch raved about rookie tight end, George Kittle, when he spoke on the local sports radio show in the Bay Area. “He’s got some suddenness to him in his movements. He catches the ball extremely well... I think George gives us something we don’t have in a playmaker down near the red zone... We feel like George Kittle maybe gives us something where he is that guy, in a one-on-one situation you can flex him out, put him in the middle of the field and he can kind of impose his will and just out-athlete people. That has been extremely positive. We thought that coming in, but he probably exceeded our expectations.” (KNBR 680)
Here's his Combine workout, where he ran a sizzling 4.52 40, broad jumped 11 feet and had a 35" vertical:
To me YAC, signifies an athletic, quick, agile, shifty football player. Attributes that the enemy media only lavishes on players of the high melanin variety. More evidence against the Caste System.Kittle broke Gronk's single season yardage record for a TE right after Travis Kelce did earlier in the day. Another less publicized record Kittle set this year -- he became the first tight end ever to lead the NFL in yards after the catch with 870! What a talent George Kittle is. Christian McCaffrey finished second in the league with 851 YAC.
Most impressive part of Kittle's season was putting up those kind of numbers with 49ers 2nd and 3rd string QBs. Hell of a player!
George Kittle is now officially my favorite NFL player, and yes that includes Christian McCaffrey. That 40 yard run against NO last week when he went beast mode cemented him as the best TE in the league. He can easily fill the void created by Gronk. I had no idea he has a fun, easy-going personality to match his talent on the field:
The usual response from DWF's when I ask a question like that on r/nfl is something like, "well he wasn't that dominant in college and his numbers didn't stand out" or some drivel that was pre-fed to them by (((ESPN)))Yeah, I got it confused with a different year.
But I got the fifth round part right. How does a talent like this last until the fifth round? Would it have happened to a black player?