October 31, 2017 was just another ordinary Halloween for 49ers tight end George Kittle.
That is until news broke that his 49ers had acquired then-New England Patriots quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo in a trade.
Kittle, of course, was in the spirit of the spooky holiday when he first heard the franchise-altering news.
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“[I] was dressed as a pirate when I got the notification on my phone,” Kittle told reporters in Miami on Tuesday morning during Super bowl LIV media availability. “It was pretty incredible.
“It was just kind of a 'holy cow,' to get Jimmy Garoppolo, that chin line, finally making its way to the West Coast. But yeah, it was kind of a cool moment, just because he had won Super Bowls and he’s just a different player from a different team, and obviously a very winning team, winning organization.”
Prior to Garoppolo’s acquisition, Kittle had just 24 catches on 37 targets for 250 yards in eight games with a combination of rookie C.J. Beathard and Brian Hoyer throwing him the football.
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In the five games, Garoppolo started to end the season, Kittle caught 15 of 19 targets for 224 yards and a touchdown.
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Over the next two seasons, Kittle transformed into arguably the NFL’s top tight end, breaking the NFL’s single-season receiving yards for a tight end record in 2018 and being named first-team All-Pro after another strong campaign in 2019.
While the relationship likely has been symbiotic, there’s no question that Kittle and the 49ers are a different team without Garoppolo on the field. Since Kyle Shanahan took over as head coach in 2017, the 49ers are 21-5 (including playoffs) with Jimmy G in the starting lineup, and 4-20 without the signal-caller.
It’s safe to say Kittle wasn’t the only one who was ecstatic to find out Jimmy G was coming to San Francisco.
San Francisco's dynamic offensive duo hope to make Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs walk the plank Sunday when they meet in Super Bowl LIV from Hard Rock Stadium.
Programming note: NBC Sports Bay Area feeds your hunger for 49ers Super Bowl coverage with special editions of “49ers Central” all week (8 p.m. Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, 9 p.m. Tuesday and 3 p.m. Saturday).
Also tune in at 1 p.m. on Super Bowl Sunday for a two-hour special of "49ers Pregame Live" with Laura Britt, Donte Whitner, Jeff Garcia, Ian Williams, Kelli Johnson, Greg Papa and Grant Liffmann. That same crew will have all the postgame reaction on "49ers Postgame Live," starting immediately after the game.