49ers offensive grades from first half of 2022 NFL season
By Peter Panacy
49ers 1st-half offensive grades: Tight end
Tight End. San Francisco 49ers. . C-.
There were some legitimate hopes that 2022 would be the year in which All-Pro tight end George Kittle would revert back to being one of the predominant offensive weapons in the entire NFL.
A year ago, Deebo Samuel took over the role of having the Niners offense flow through him. So far in 2022, it was either Brandon Aiyuk and now likely Christian McCaffrey heading forward, further relegating Kittle to more of an ancillary piece.
Granted, missing the first two games of the year didn’t help Kittle’s case. But, with 319 yards on 28 catches and two touchdowns over the first half of the season, the tight end is going from that elite-level weapon to more of a very good one.
There’s a difference.
Kittle is still massively valuable to San Francisco, both as a locker-room leader and with his exceptional blocking abilities. But he’s more of a tertiary target now, and he’s also gone from being one of the NFL’s elite to a “very good” tight end as mentioned.
Still, there’s always the chance of Kittle having one of “those games” at any moment where he takes over, and the 49ers value that.