George Kittle likes what he has seen from No. 3 overall draft pick Trey Lance thus far. The tight end is the 49ers' ultimate hype-man, so it should be no surprise that the rookie is receiving praise from Kittle.
San Francisco just wrapped up OTAs for the summer and will break for more than a month before training camp begins on July 27.
There were plenty of positive and unfortunately some negatives that occurred during OTAs. One of the positives though was Lance's debut on the practice field. Kittle gave his scouting report on the rookie after a handful of practices.
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"He's a freak athlete. It's kind of fun to watch that. It is," Kittle told Michael Silver's "Pass it Down Podcast" this week. "He's got a cannon for an arm too. That's fun to watch too. It's a different style of quarterback play, for sure. But at the same time, Kyle Shanahan has a very dense playbook, and he is human. He's the third overall pick, but he is human. But he has the opportunity to be pretty good, though. I like him."
Kittle is the biggest Jimmy Garoppolo supporter on the planet and will continue to back the current starting quarterback while also praising the next guy in line. Some speculated that the addition of Lance could create an uncomfortable situation in the locker room.
That doesn't seem to be the case.
"One guy as a rookie doesn't really change the dynamic of a locker room," Kittle said. "It's more about the vets and the culture that we have established there. We're a family. Whoever we bring in like I said, we trust Kyle [Shanahan] and John [Lynch] with the guys that they bring in because I think we have a very strong foundation of guys, and we built it the right way."
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There will be an ongoing competition for the starting job from now until the torch is officially passed. It sounds as if Garoppolo hasn't changed.
"He's Jimmy G," Kittle said. "I haven't noticed a difference at all. That's what's been so fun about it. Honestly, it's just been, 'Hey, we just had OTAs. We've been practicing. We've been hanging out. I catch balls from whatever quarterback throws it at me.' "
It's praise all around from Kittle, who is probably the biggest fan of all his teammates at all times.