Why George Kittle is Having a Slow Start to the Season

George Kittle is supposed to be a productive receiver for the 49ers, but he hasn't been involved much outside of two games.

A contributing factor to the 49ers' loss to the Browns in Week 6 were the injuries to Deebo Samuel and Christian McCaffrey.

Samuel was lost for practically the entire game, while McCaffrey was absent for the fourth quarter. Losing these two star players definitely hurts the offense, but the 49ers still had Brandon Aiyuk and George Kittle. However, only Aiyuk was there to contribute on the receiving end. Kittle was irrelevant for much of the game as he only tallied one catch on two targets. All he was during the game was an unofficial offensive tackle.

In fact, that has basically been Kittle all season long. He hasn't been a force in the receiving game. Last season, his first six games he registered 28 catches for 319 yards and two touchdowns. In his first six games this season, he only has 18 catches for 216 yards and three touchdowns. Those three touchdowns came in one game against the Cowboys, while most of his yards (90) came against the Giants with Aiyuk inactive. Outside of two games, Kittle has just been an offensive lineman.

So, what gives? Kittle and Brock Purdy had themselves a strong connection last season. What is the issue so far this season? Maybe we are witnessing the start of the decline of Kittle. It's not like he has looked as fast as he did before, and he never really had much speed to begin with. That probably is a factor, but I'm not ready to chalk it up as him declining quite yet. 

I believe Kittle is having a slow start to the season because Kyle Shanahan doesn't want to overuse him this early in the season. Kittle is one of the most injury prone players on the 49ers. Or at least, he always finds himself hurt and it nags him throughout a season. Rather than exposing him to injury, which tends to occur when he is a receiver, he'd rather use him sparingly so that when it is the latter half of the season, he can start to dial Kittle up more.

It's all about self-preservation with Kittle. The 49ers need him for their late playoff push more than they do now. And with the abundance of talent they have on offense, they are more than capable of still being dominant without his heavy receiving presence. They basically have been doing so without him thus far anyways, so it's proven that they can do it. Should the occasion arise in a game where they need him, like against the Giants without Aiyuk or exposing a weakness against the Cowboys, then they can do so.

The counter to this would be why didn't he get utilized against the Browns? For that, I simply believe that the Browns were that superb on defense. Man-to-man coverage was the perfect call against the 49ers as they struggled to create separation and it threw Brock Purdy off. As the season progresses, I expect Kittle to start seeing an uptick in usage so that he has some momentum built for the 49ers to start making their playoff push.