Star 49ers tight end George Kittle is a superstitious guy.
So when Netflix came calling for him to participate in the upcoming "Receiver" series, the All-Pro initially didn't want any distractions as he chased a Super Bowl victory with San Francisco during the 2023 NFL season.
"At first, I was a hard, hard no," Kittle said during a recent interview on the "Bussin' With The Boys" podcast. "I was like, absolutely not, I'm not going to do this. I have full faith in the Football Gods, and it felt weird."
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Kittle revealed that Netflix asked him to take part in the docuseries, which follows players both on and off the field, about 10 days before the 2023 campaign began. And while he hadn't watched the show's predecessor, "Quarterback," before, Kittle gave the season a chance and walked away impressed.
Still, he wasn't fully convinced until his wife, Claire Kittle, put the opportunity into perspective for him.
"My wife Claire convinced me to do it," Kittle said. "She was like, 'Just think about in 10 years, you can go back and watch it and you can show your kids this stuff.' And I was like, 'You know what? That's a fantastic selling point.
"So we agreed to it, and it was really fun."
San Francisco 49ers
The upcoming sports series, which debuts on the streaming platform July 10, follows Kittle, his 49ers teammate Deebo Samuel and fellow NFL receivers Justin Jefferson, Amon-Ra St. Brown and Davante Adams. The series is produced by Peyton Manning's Omaha Productions, which made Kittle even more comfortable with the entire thing.
Kittle and the other stars were able to omit anything they didn't want to go into the series, between time spent filming at practices, games and even at home. And after watching "Quarterback," Kittle knew he was in good hands.
"But I'd never watched 'Quarterback,' so I finally went and watched it and thought they did a fantastic job at showing enough, and it also gives you an inside look to the players," Kittle said. "What about the publicity it gave Kirk Cousins? He wasn't just some guy -- Kirk is a fantastic person, sense of humor, family guy. Everyone fell in love with him, right? So I was like, all this is going to do is it shows you an inside life, it introduces your family, so I thought it was a cool thing."
Kittle noted that Samuel filming the show at the same time as him made things even easier. And while the 49ers Faithful know the 2023 season ended in heartbreak for San Francisco, the show still is certain to be entertaining with the two fan favorites front and center.
"The way they intertwine me and Deebo's story is really cool," Kittle said. "There's a lot of 49ers footage in there. It's really fun. I don't really have any complaints about it."
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