SF 49ers: 3 players who help Nick Mullens most in 2020

Nick Mullens Crutch No.1: SF 49ers TE George Kittle

Although his status for Week 3 is still up in the air, tight end George Kittle is not only the best offensive weapon the SF 49ers have, he’s also among the best in the league.

There’s no doubt Nick Mullens can lean on Kittle pretty heavily during his time as the starting quarterback, not only because Kittle is excellent at football, but also because he’s one of the players who was around during Mullens’ run to end the 2018 season.

In fact, Mullens was a key contributor to Kittle breaking the record for receiving yards by a tight end in a single season, having thrown to Kittle for half of the games that season.

And then there’s this unforgettable moment between the two:

https://twitter.com/SportsCenter/status/1058179048164220929

Kittle is a security blanket for just about any quarterback, Jimmy Garoppolo included, but Mullens and he had a particularly good connection back in 2018.

According to Jeff Deeney at Pro Football Focus, Mullens has a passer rating of 107.8 when targeting Kittle over his career. In 2019, the average passer rating among NFL quarterbacks was 90.4 and generally hovers in the upper 80s to lower 90s, especially over the last decade.

That means that the Mullens-to-Kittle connection is an above-average one.

And frankly, having Kittle on your side is something any quarterback should take advantage of. He’s got similar abilities in gaining yards after the catch that Deebo Samuel does, but does it with a more efficient catch rate (79.4 percent last season to Samuel’s 70.4 percent).

Kittle has already been credited with just 13 drops in his career, whereas Samuel racked up 10 last season alone. Samuel will have to improve upon that, but it certainly hints at Kittle’s reliability.

Mullens has been around long enough to be a solid starter for the SF 49ers. And while no one should expect him to be Garoppolo, Mullens should be able to steady the ship for the duration of the starter’s injury, keeping the Niners firmly in the playoff hunt at this point in the season.