Well, that about sums it up.<\/p>\n
George Kittle isn’t happy to see longtime 49ers tight ends coach Brian Fleury reportedly head north to become the Seattle Seahawks’ new offensive coordinator<\/a>, and he expressed his thoughts — or, thought — on social media Sunday shortly after the news broke.<\/p>\n Kittle spent plenty of time with Fleury since the assistant joined the 49ers in 2019 as a defensive quality control coach. He spent most of his seven seasons on the offensive side of the ball with San Francisco, as an offensive quality control coach (2020-21), tight ends coach (2022-24) and run game coordinator\/tight ends coach (2025).<\/p>\n After Fleury was promoted to tight ends coach in 2022, he flew out to Kittle’s house in Nashville to bond with the 49ers star, The Athletic reported<\/a> at the time. Kittle shared how the assistant’s defensive prowess would serve the tight ends room, giving a unique perspective from the other side of things.<\/p>\n \u201cHow he breaks them down as a defensive coach, their responsibilities and stuff, we\u2019re getting a complete restructure and relearning of the thing,\u201d Kittle said in 2022, via The Athletic. \u201cThat\u2019s very beneficial to our room. What he has is a very different perspective on the game of football.<\/p>\n \u201cHe wasn\u2019t a tight end his entire life, so he\u2019s not going to teach me how to run block better. But he can show me, \u2018Hey, we can do better on your first step here. Your hand placement can be better here.\u2019 His detail in the pass game has been fun to listen to because it\u2019s been different than what I\u2019ve heard before.\u201d<\/p>\n Whether on the sideline at Levi’s Stadium or getting loose before training camp practices, where you saw Kittle, you likely saw Fleury close by in the months and years that followed.<\/p>\n Brian Fleury helps George Kittle complete drills during a 49ers training camp practice in Santa Clara on Aug. 3, 2023.<\/p>\n While Kittle won’t be back on the field for a while after sustaining a torn ACL<\/a> in the NFC wild-card game last month, things will be a lot different for the tight end when he does without Fleury in the picture.<\/p>\n And the fact that Fleury will be on the sideline with an NFC West division rival has to sting a little extra.<\/p>\n