Kyle Shanahan explains the importance of signing Luke Farrell and how he impacts George Kittle

San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan spoke at the owner’s meetings on Tuesday morning, and talked about the importance of having a No. 2 tight end behind George Kittle. Shanahan believes George Kittle’s new backup is one of the best blockers in the NFL:

“We really needed a No. 2 blocking tight end. Losing Charlie [Woerner], we haven’t been able to replace him yet. I thought Eric [Saubert] came in and did some good things for us last year. For Luke [Farrell] to be available where we got him, price-wise and everything, we thought we got one of the better blockers in this league. And someone who can bring something in the pass game also.”

Shanahan said signing Farrell does not rule out the 49ers from drafting a tight end. He said, “I don’t think we’re ruling out any player. It definitely helps us out in the draft, having a little more depth there.”

The likelihood that anybody knew who Farrell was outside of Jaguars fans last season was slim. Farrell was used primarily as a blocker. Farrell brings a level of physicality at a bigger weight than Kyle Juszczyk — the 49ers' pseudo TE2 the previous two seasons. SB Nation’s JP Acosta said, “You don’t sign Farrell to catch the ball, you want him to eat glass as a run blocker.”

Here’s Shanahan, explaining what a TE2 means to his offense:

“I mean, it’s one of most critical things in running the ball. To balance out two sides of the formation. When you have a threat to go to both sides of the defensive end is a big deal. Kittle is really good in pass protection, but you don’t always want to use a guy who is good in pass protection when he’s really good in routes and everything.

So having another tight end with the length to block defensive ends is important, so you can double-team one of the inside guys with an o-lineman and get Kittle out on routes.”

Injuries caused Kittle to have the second-most pass-blocking snaps since 2020 last year. That also means Kittle had the lowest percentage of routes in the past few seasons.

Kittle is objectively one of the best eligible pass catchers in the NFL. If the decision to sign Farrell was directly tied to getting Kittle more involved in the passing game — especially with Brandon Aiyuk projected to miss some of the regular season — then Farrell’s value skyrockets.