It isn’t just San Francisco 49ers fans who are grateful to finally have stability at quarterback with Brock Purdy.
49ers star tight end George Kittle’s wife, Claire, shared a similar sentiment while also throwing not-so-subtle shade at past 49ers quarterbacks with a post to her Instagram story on Tuesday evening.
Kittle’s post initially included a screenshot that read, “The most efficient QB-TE connection in NFL history. According to PFF tracking data, Brock Purdy to George Kittle ranks No. 1 all-time among QB-TE duos with a 0.750 EPA per play (minimum 75 targets).
“Across all pass-catchers, they rank 4th overall in efficiency — but have sustained that efficiency at a much higher volume than the wide receiver duos ahead of them… And somehow, it keeps getting better,” the post added while posting several stats that show evidence of Kittle and Purdy’s elite connection.
“Just imagine if he had a consistent QB week to week for the first 5 years of his career lol… Thankful to have Brock at the helm. This duo has a lot of records together. Let’s keep it rolling,” Kittle wrote as the post’s caption.
While Claire didn’t mention any past 49ers quarterback by name, Jimmy Garoppolo was San Francisco’s starting quarterback for most of that time.
Garoppolo started 45 of San Francisco’s 81 regular-season games during those first five years of Kittle’s career, as Kittle was taken in the 2017 NFL Draft. Granted, four other quarterbacks (Nick Mullens, Brain Hoyer, C.J. Beathard, and Trey Lance) also got starts during that time, and this is the instability Claire Kittle was alluding to.
Then again, Garoppolo started all six of the 49ers’ playoff games during that span, including leading San Francisco to the Super Bowl in 2019 (a year in which he made all 16 regular season starts).
It would be interesting to hear what Jimmy G has to say about this comment from Kittle.
