Tight end George Kittle knows Jimmy Garoppolo's return to the 49ers can yield positive results in the 2022 NFL season.
Speaking with former 49ers cornerback Richard Sherman on Sunday's episode of "The Richard Sherman Podcast," Kittle explained how Garoppolo's presence around the team will be beneficial to Trey Lance's development.
"While Trey is in the driver's seat and Trey gets to play quarterback, he has Jimmy G, who knows how to win games and he can learn a lot from him," Kittle told Sherman. "I hope that's how Trey takes this, and he just continues to play his games because Trey's a really good quarterback."
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Kittle added that Lance needs "a lot" of reps and will get those, even with Garoppolo behind him. With Garoppolo's experience, Kittle feels that the internal competition will push Lance to pursue greatness.
What's more, the 28-year-old Kittle is able to look at the situation from a different perspective and thinks Garoppolo's return is good for the 49ers in the "grand scheme of things."
Ultimately, Kittle believes that having Garoppolo around will help Lance learn and develop the intangibles that come with being QB1.
"There's aspects of football that aren't just X's and O's and they're not just throwing the football that Trey's going to learn from Jimmy, like just how to carry yourself, how to do certain things," Kittle said. "Trey does a good job at that, it's just Jimmy's been doing it longer, so he's just gonna learn a lot of things from him.
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"I look forward to it."
Garoppolo's decision to take a pay cut and return to the 49ers as a backup shocked the NFL world, even his coach Kyle Shanahan.
That said, Kittle has been a staunch supporter of Lance's ability to lead the 49ers to where they want to be, even after Garoppolo returned. If Kittle can continue to support Lance through the ups and downs, that should be comforting for the front office and the fans.
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With Garoppolo's trade saga now concluded, at least for the time being, Lance and the 49ers can focus on more pressing issues: facing the Chicago Bears on Sept. 11 at Soldier Field.