Niner Noise
FanSided

Power ranking 49ers top 10 players halfway through 2019 season

By Peter Panacy

Jimmy Garoppolo #10 of the San Francisco 49ers with George Kittle #85 (Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images)
Jimmy Garoppolo #10 of the San Francisco 49ers with George Kittle #85 (Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images) /
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LOS ANGELES, CA – OCTOBER 13: Tight end George Kittle #85 and middle linebacker Kwon Alexander #56 of the San Francisco 49ers make a video as they celebrate the win over the Los Angeles Rams at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on October 13, 2019 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Jayne Kamin-Oncea/Getty Images)
LOS ANGELES, CA – OCTOBER 13: Tight end George Kittle #85 and middle linebacker Kwon Alexander #56 of the San Francisco 49ers make a video as they celebrate the win over the Los Angeles Rams at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on October 13, 2019 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Jayne Kamin-Oncea/Getty Images) /

. . . George Kittle. 3. player. 42

You knew George Kittle couldn’t be left off this list.

OK, so Kittle probably isn’t going to break his own record for most receiving yards in a single season by a tight end, set back in 2018 with 1,377. Those numbers are simply unsustainable, yet that’s not a big problem.

Early on, defenses were making Kittle a focal point of their game plans, which cut into his numbers over the first three weeks, where he failed to reach 60 yards in any of San Francisco’s first three games.

But Kittle has looked far more the dominant playmaking weapon, recently, surely aided by the 49ers’ addition of Emmanuel Sanders.

Since Samuel has been around, Kittle has posted 86 and 79 yards against the Panthers and Cardinals, respectively. One should expect that trend to continue into the second half of 2019, as Kittle is now on pace to record 1,082 receiving yards this season.

Don’t overlook the other things Kittle does on the field, either. He has been exceptional in both pass and run blocking, and Pro Football Focus ranked Kittle the No. 1 tight end out of 70 qualifiers.