San Francisco 49ers tight end George Kittle has been one of the most productive receivers in football over the past three seasons.

Ahead of the New England Patriots' Week 7 matchup with the 49ers, Bill Belichick set the bar as high as possible for the 49ers star.

According to his comments to reporters on Monday, Belichick apparently believes Kittle is basically the greatest football player who has ever lived.

“Kittle is a great player. He does everything well,” the six-time Super Bowl winning coach said. “I'd put him right at the top of the league there, period. His ability to catch, run, get open, after the catch, block, he does everything at a high level. He's as good as anybody that I've coached or as good as anybody that we've played against.”

That's pretty significant praise coming from the man who coached future Hall of Fame tight end Rob Gronkowski for nine seasons.

“I don't think there's a tight end in the league — and we've seen a lot of good ones and had a lot of good ones — but I don't think there's anybody in the league that does everything overall as well as he does,” Belichick continued. “He just really doesn't have any weak points at all. Just outstanding at every phase of the game.”

Kittle has 30 catches for 380 yards and two touchdowns this season for the short-handed 49ers, placing him just behind Travis Kelce of the Kansas City Chiefs (32 receptions, 406 yards, three TDs) as the most productive tight end in football — though Kittle has played one fewer game heading into Kansas City's Monday night game.

In 2018, Kittle set the single-season yardage record for a tight end (1,377) and followed it up with 85 receptions for 1,053 yards in 14 games in 2019. He had seven catches for 109 yards and a score in San Francisco's 24-16 victory over the Los Angeles Rams in Week 6.

Belichick noted the conundrum Kittle's presence poses for the defense.

“He's got a great skillset and the 49ers put him in positions that really stress the defense and make it hard but then they also use him somewhat as a decoy to open things for other guys, too,” he said. “If you pay too much attention to him, he creates opportunities for some of their other outstanding player.s And if you don't pay enough attention to him then he can kill you.”

It's not the first time this season that Belichick has talked about an upcoming opponent with that degree of praise. Ahead of the Patriots showdown with the Seattle Seahawks in Week 2, Belichick called Russell Wilson the best quarterback in football. Wilson validated Belichick's remarks, lighting up the New England defense for five TDs on 21-for-28 passing and 288 yards in Seattle's 35-31 win.

Hopefully for Patriots fans, Belichick's defensive game plan on Kittle is effective enough to make his praise look somewhat hyperbolic.