George Kittle is in his seventh NFL season. While he reached the Super Bowl during the 2019 season, the tight end had to endure watching the confetti fall on the Kansas City Chiefs rather than celebrating with his San Francisco 49ers teammates.
NFL careers don't last forever, and at some point, players develop a heightened sense of urgency to earn a ring. Kittle can pinpoint precisely when that urgency emerged for him, which had nothing to do with his age.
"My sense of urgency has been pretty urgent since 2019," Kittle told reporters after Thursday's practice. "I kind of figured that out. I think it takes like a year or two [of being] in the NFL to realize the sense of urgency that you have to have when you're on a good football team. But yeah, I feel like I've been pretty urgent since then."
Like many players, it took Kittle, a fifth-round draft pick in 2017, some time to adjust to life in the NFL. Observing the careers of former teammates made him realize the importance of seizing every opportunity.
"My first two years, I was just trying to survive the NFL, and then something clicked, figured it out, started playing at a high level," Kittle shared. "And then you realize, especially, when you have guys like [former tackle] Joe Staley, [former tight end] Garrett Celek—they were like two of my best friends on the team—I've been in the league without them longer than I was with them. I played with them for three years, and I've played without them for four years.
"So I understand the sense of urgency, and I think it takes young guys a little bit, but the majority of this team fully understands that. And windows closing, all that stuff, I don't know. I'm just going to keep playing football at a high level until they tell me I can't anymore."
As the top-seeded team in the NFC, the 49ers earned a first-round bye, and they will host their first playoff game the weekend of January 20. With two wins, Kittle and the 49ers will find themselves back in the Super Bowl.
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