George Kittle takes credit for 49ers trade for Christian McCaffrey

While a lot of pieces went into the 49ers trading for Christian McCaffrey earlier this month, George Kittle likes to think he deserves the credit.

Perhaps there’ll be a day when San Francisco 49ers tight end George Kittle becomes a general manager.

After all, he’s already helping the Niners accrue more talent. At least according to him.

San Francisco was one of the few teams that pulled off a blockbuster trade just before the 2022 NFL trade deadline back on Nov. 1, landing All-Pro running back Christian McCaffrey in a deal with the Carolina Panthers.

Since that point, the 49ers have gone 2-1 and have watched their offense gain an entirely new dynamic, one they hope will be effective enough to carry momentum deep into the playoffs.

And while Niners head coach Kyle Shanahan and general manager John Lynch probably did a lot of the heavy lifting on the transaction, Kittle believes he was directly responsible.

George Kittle says he was responsible for Christian McCaffrey trade to 49ers

Kittle appeared on San Francisco’s 95.7 The Game this week, talking about what the 49ers need to do down the stretch and all sorts of other team-related matters.

Interestingly enough, though, the McCaffrey deal came up. Kittle didn’t miss a beat when it came to accepting full responsibility for the trade actually happening:

"I’ve been speaking this into existence for about two years. Me and Christian have been pretty good friends for a while, but I’ve been convincing him, “Hey, we’ve just got to get you into our run game, and I promise you, you’re going to have a really good time.”When it finally happened, I was actually in the middle of playing some video games with some of my buddies that are on other teams, and one of them is like, “Hey, you just traded for Christian McCaffrey.” I about threw my controller through my screen. I called him up right away."

You can check out the full interview on 95.7 The Game below:

To compare why Kittle feels as if willing something into existence is important, he expanded on how this practice also worked on his wife, Claire Kittle:

"Somehow, I convinced my wife to marry me. I willed that into existence the first time I saw her when I was 18 years old. So I’m doing a pretty good job there. We just had our third anniversary and been together for over 10 years, so I willed that one in."

Read More: George Kittle nominated for USAA Salute to Service award

Niners fans are probably happy both George and Claire Kittle have been thriving as a married couple, yes.

But those fans are certainly even more appreciative of Kittle’s work at willing McCaffrey over to the Niners, too.

Thank you, George. Thank you.

Hat tip to 49ers Webzone for the find.