Iowa Hawkeyes in the NFL: Week 10 Roundup

George Kittle isn’t catching passes from ex-Iowa teammate C.J. Beathard anymore for San Francisco, but the recent quarterback change didn’t stop him from having one of his best games as a pro Monday night.

Kittle caught a career-high nine passes for 83 yards, drawing 10 targets from new 49ers starter Nick Mullens. That performance pushed Kittle’s season totals to 50 catches for 775 yards.

Beathard has lost his spot in the 49ers quarterback pecking order for a second straight season, but coach Kyle Shanahan still had plenty of positive things to say about the second-year pro, even comparing his pro path to that of Kirk Cousins.

“Kirk Cousins his first nine games, do you know what his record was? 1-8. He had 19 picks and 18 touchdowns,” Shanahan said. “C.J. is 1-8. I think he has 13 picks. It doesn’t mean that he’s him, but I also know that a lot of people gave up on Kirk because of how he started and everyone wanted to put it on one guy when it was a lot more than just that.”

Elsewhere, Micah Hyde came up with his first interception of the season Sunday in Buffalo’s 41-10 drubbing of the Jets, along with two tackles and one pass defensed.

Josh Jackson had a season-high seven tackles in Green Bay’s 31-12 win over Miami, while Mike Daniels added three tackles and a quarterback hit. Bryan Bulaga played every offensive snap at right tackle after being listed as questionable with a knee injury suffered the previous week against New England.

Desmond King recorded three tackles in the Chargers’ win over hapless Oakland, and he entered the week as Pro Football Focus’s highest-graded cornerback in the NFL.

PFF extended similar love to the Hawkeye representative on Los Angeles’s other time — Austin Blythe.

James Daniels started and played 100% of the offensive snaps for the third consecutive game for the Bears, who racked up 402 yards in a 34-22 victory over Detroit.

Christian Kirksey’s season came to an end last week when Cleveland put him on injured reserve. Kirksey, who had 43 tackles, five passes defensed and two interceptions, had exited the previous week’s loss to Kansas City due to a hamstring issue.

Fellow linebacker Anthony Hitchens didn’t see action in Kansas City’s win against Arizona due to a rib injury, though he was active for an emergency situation. He is expected to return in Week 11’s showdown with the Rams in Mexico City.

That helped set the stage for first start of Ben Niemann’s career, and Niemann responded with a team-high six solo tackles. Niemann’s efforts have already earned him an interesting nickname from teammates.

Pro Football Focus shared that going into Sunday, Marshal Yanda had not surrendered a sack for Baltimore in more than 1,400 pass block snaps — the second-longest active streak in the NFL.

And for one final name you likely haven’t heard in a while — A.J. Derby caught a pass for 13 yards in Miami’s loss to the Packers. The ex-Hawkeye turned Razorback has three receptions for 48 yards this season.