"Singing hey diddle diddle with a Kittle in the middle..."
We are now so used to having monster TE receivers that it's easy to overlook the achievement of Kittle - only 14 TEs in the past 30 years had multiple 1000yd seasons, and only 5 in history had multiple seasons before their 27th birthday (10 points if you can name the others besides the obvious Gronk and Kittle).
Having said that, now that we _are _ used to it, we'd very much like Kittle to get a third one, thank you very much. So we have to ask: what happened and why did Kittle go down from 88/1377/5 to 85/1054/5? And why doesn't he get more TDs, like 8 or 10?
I found that:
- despite the same number of receptions, Kittle actually did that on a lot fewer targets (down from 136 to 107)
- Kittle wasn't able to escape for long TD runs like he did in 2018 (when he had 6 40+ yard receptions)
- 2019 was mostly with Garoppolo, who spreads the ball around more (hence fewer targets but better catch rate). Better real life QB, but less beneficial to Kittle
- Kittle got plenty of use in the red zone (18 plays) but he just wasn't very effective there (2 TD). Instead Mostert and Coleman had 6 TDs each in the RZ, and Bourne had 5. That really needs to improve. Kittle still gets most of his TDs outside the Red Zone, on long runs.
One last note: it turns out Kittle has been playing for 2 seasons with a torn labrum:
https://www.nfl.com/news/george-kittle-has-played-with-torn-labrum-since-2018-0ap3000001099361
That's stunning. It's insane to think that he has done 2 seasons on a torn labrum, but it's even more insane he's not getting surgery.
I've been trying to find examples of young players who had torn labrums (Laviska Shenault is a recent one) but most of those recovered after surgery. It'll be really interesting (and scary, iof you own him) to see how that will go in the next seasons.
We are now so used to having monster TE receivers that it's easy to overlook the achievement of Kittle - only 14 TEs in the past 30 years had multiple 1000yd seasons, and only 5 in history had multiple seasons before their 27th birthday (10 points if you can name the others besides the obvious Gronk and Kittle).
Having said that, now that we _are _ used to it, we'd very much like Kittle to get a third one, thank you very much. So we have to ask: what happened and why did Kittle go down from 88/1377/5 to 85/1054/5? And why doesn't he get more TDs, like 8 or 10?
I found that:
- despite the same number of receptions, Kittle actually did that on a lot fewer targets (down from 136 to 107)
- Kittle wasn't able to escape for long TD runs like he did in 2018 (when he had 6 40+ yard receptions)
- 2019 was mostly with Garoppolo, who spreads the ball around more (hence fewer targets but better catch rate). Better real life QB, but less beneficial to Kittle
- Kittle got plenty of use in the red zone (18 plays) but he just wasn't very effective there (2 TD). Instead Mostert and Coleman had 6 TDs each in the RZ, and Bourne had 5. That really needs to improve. Kittle still gets most of his TDs outside the Red Zone, on long runs.
One last note: it turns out Kittle has been playing for 2 seasons with a torn labrum:
https://www.nfl.com/news/george-kittle-has-played-with-torn-labrum-since-2018-0ap3000001099361
"So I dislocated my shoulder last year," Kittle told the Pardon My Take podcast, per NBC Sports Bay Area, "and my labrum is completely torn. So I don't get surgery on it... [The protective sleeve] basically helps me, so it doesn't hurt all the time."
That's stunning. It's insane to think that he has done 2 seasons on a torn labrum, but it's even more insane he's not getting surgery.
I've been trying to find examples of young players who had torn labrums (Laviska Shenault is a recent one) but most of those recovered after surgery. It'll be really interesting (and scary, iof you own him) to see how that will go in the next seasons.
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