George Kittle Was Asked If He’d Rather Have Jimmy Garoppolo Or Trey Lance As Starting Quarterback

After developing a strong rapport with quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo, it appears George Kittle will have young Trey Lance as his QB1 in 2022.

Earlier in the offseason, Kittle hyped up Lance, comparing him to one of the best QB’s in the entire NFL.

ā€œHe reminds me most of Josh Allen,ā€ Kittle said of Lance during a recent appearance on the ā€œI am athleteā€ podcast.

But even so, George Kittle is still loyal to Jimmy Garoppolo. And with the veteran QB still on the Niners’ roster, the star tight end was asked which signal-caller he would prefer if the season were to start today.

ā€œThatā€™s the million-dollar question, isnā€™t it?ā€ Kittle said via PFT. ā€œThatā€™s one reason Iā€™m glad Iā€™m not the head coach of the 49ers. Thatā€™s all on Coach Shanahan. Iā€™ll give you both ways. Jimmy G, awesome in the huddle, great leader, directs guys. People go to attention when heā€™s talking. Heā€™s got a quick release, he knows the offense. Like I said, been to two NFC Championship games, knows what heā€™s doing. Trey Lance can run, extend plays, does all the play-action stuff incredible, could throw the ball 70 yards. I donā€™t know. Itā€™s a toss-up for me.ā€

George Kittle would go on to say he’s fine with Trey Lance or Jimmy Garoppolo as long as someones getting him the football.

ā€œAs long as theyā€™re throwing me the football, it is what it is,ā€ Kittle said. ā€œFootball is a competitive sport. If thereā€™s not competition, if youā€™re not fighting for your starting job every single day, then youā€™re not going to get any better. It was nice to see those two push each other all year. I think Trey learned a lot from Jimmy. If Trey is the starter and if thereā€™s growing pains, hey, so be it. I think we have good enough players around him to help him succeed from Trent Williams, to [Brandon] Aiyuk, to hopefully Deebo [Samuel], to me, our run game. I think we have plenty of players around him to help him succeed.ā€

By all indications, it appears that San Francisco has fully embraced Trey Lance as the starting quarterback, and have even admitted they’d be open to trading Jimmy Garoppolo for the right price.

However, no team seems to be too enthralled with the prospect of having Garoppolo as their starter heading into the season, meaning the Niners may be best served waiting for injuries to occur around the league.


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