49ers tight end George Kittle to see an increase in targets this year?

Here are some fun facts about George Kittle.

At 31, he's coming off arguably the best season of his career, and Pro Football Focus recently named him the ninth-best player in the NFL -- only one offensive weapon ranked higher than him, and that was Derrick Henry.

And yet, Kittle did not lead the 49ers in targets last season -- not even close. Instead, Jauan Jennings got 19 more targets than Kittle in the same number of games.

To be clear, this is not a shot at Jennings. He's a terrific player. But he's not Kittle.

And for some strange reason, Kittle hasn't led the 49ers in targets since 2019. That year, the 49ers threw him 107 passes. The year before, they threw him 136 passes. Since then, they haven't given him more than 94 targets in a season, which is hard to fathom.

Compare Kittle to fellow future Hall of Fame tight end Travis Kelce. He hasn't gotten fewer than 100 targets in a season since 2014. Most years, the Chiefs throw him between 130 and 150 passes. And that's how other teams would use Kittle if they had him.

49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan seems to like to use Kittle as a decoy, or maybe he just forgets about the tight end from time to time. Shanahan was a wide receiver in college and he likes to feature wide receivers in the passing game.

But Kittle is the 49ers' best receiver by far. It's not close. For once, Shanahan needs to get out of Kittle's way and let him carry the offense. Because Deebo Samuel is gone, Brandon Aiyuk and Demarcus Robinson most likely will miss the beginning of the regular season, Christian McCaffrey is getting old for a running back, Ricky Pearsall has a hamstring injury and Jauan Jennings might hold out until he gets a new contract.

The 49ers need Kittle to carry their offense, and he can if Shanahan simply lets him.

Get out of Kittle's way, Kyle.