George Kittle Took Issue With Ex-NFL QB’s Brock Purdy-Mac Jones Take

George Kittle doesn’t believe the 49ers offense would be having the same success if Mac Jones was behind center.

Dan Orlovsky argued the opposite Monday during an ESPN appearance. The take was unleashed after Brock Purdy and Jones experienced very different Week 5s. Purdy completed 70% of his passes for 252 yards with four touchdowns and no interceptions in San Francisco’s 32-point win over the Dallas Cowboys. The Patriots quarterback, meanwhile, completed 54% of his passes for 110 yards with no TDs and two picks before he was benched again in New England’s second straight blowout loss.

Kittle caught wind of Orlovsky’s argument and pushed back on it Tuesday during an appearance on KNBR’s “Murphy and Mac.”

“That’s disrespectful to Brock Purdy,” Kittle said, as transcribed by NBC Sports. “I think Mac Jones is a fine quarterback. What Brock’s doing — you look at his stats, just watch the tape. People just say, ‘Oh, I see his stats, I see some of the things they talk about on ‘Sunday Night Football.’ ‘ No, just watch him move in the pocket, watch some of these throws that he’s making.

“Sure, is there room for improvement? There’s room for improvement on all of us. We can all get better. The reason for Brock [and] it’s all the focus on him is that he’s the quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers, and we’re 5-0. It’s one of the most historic franchises; there’s always a quarterback, some type of … not controversy, but someone always wants to say something about the 49ers quarterback, and that’s what (Orlovsky) talked about.

“OK, so let him talk about it. Just watch the tape and watch what (Purdy) does every single game. It’s phenomenal.”

Ironically enough, the 49ers reportedly considered taking Jones with the third overall pick in the 2021 NFL Draft. But San Francisco rolled with Trey Lance, whose shortcomings and serious injury opened the door for Purdy to emerge in the Bay Area.

Last year’s “Mr. Irrelevant,” Purdy took his opportunity and ran with it. And now, there probably is a very, very short list of signal-callers who Kyle Shanahan and company would rather have leading the Niners offense.