Let's run it back, 10!' - Kittle in show of support for Garoppolo amid Brady speculation
New England Patriots quarterback Brady is set to enter free agency for the first time in his career when the new NFL league year begins on March 18.
It remains to be seen whether Brady will ultimately remain in New England or move to pastures new.
However, there is growing talk of the 43-year-old linking up with the 49ers, the team he supported as a boy growing up in San Mateo, 19 miles outside of San Francisco.
Speculation has mounted despite Garoppolo, Brady's former backup in New England, leading the 49ers to Super Bowl LIV - where they suffered an agonising defeat to the Kansas City Chiefs - in his first full season as a starter after they traded a second-round pick for him in 2017.
The Niners' star tight end Kittle made it clear in an Instagram post on Wednesday that he is focusing on another bid for the Lombardi Trophy with Garoppolo under center.
Alongside an image of he and Garoppolo celebrating, Kittle wrote: Let's run it back, 10!," in a reference to Garoppolo's jersey number.
San Francisco general manager John Lynch issued a staunch defence of Garoppolo, criticised for his inability to get the Niners over the line in a Super Bowl that saw them lose a 10-point fourth-quarter lead, at the Scouting Combine last week.
"The most exciting thing about him is the room for growth. He's not come close to hitting his ceiling," Lynch said.
"The room for growth, the more experience he gets in this system, the more experience he gets playing in general, we think the arrow’s up, and that’s a good thing."
At this stage in his career, Brady's room for growth appears limited by comparison and NFL Network's Ian Rapoport said on Wednesday that he had not been able to "substantiate any interest from the 49ers' standpoint besides saying like, 'Yes, theoretically anything is possible.'"