The San Francisco 49ers have come to terms on a new contract extension with tight end George Kittle which will keep him tied to the franchise through 2029.
Kittle’s new deal is worth $76.4M, and features $40M in guaranteed money. The $19.1M AAV also makes him the leagues highest paid TE, narrowly sneaking past Cardinals tight end Trey McBride who will earn $19M.
“In 2017, our first year with the 49ers, we selected a skinny tight end from Iowa whom we were really excited about,” GM John Lynch said in a statement. “We had high hopes, but no one knew that he would become the player that he is today. He has a great sense of pride in his role and has put in the work to be one of the best tight ends in the NFL.”
Across 15 games in 2024, Kittle hauled in 78 passes for 1,106 yards, and 8 TDs through the air. As a result, he was named to his 6th Pro Bowl, and was chosen for the 2nd Team All-Pro list, marking the 5th time in his career he’s been chosen as either a 1st or 2nd team All-Pro.
Despite starting to get a bit longer in the tooth at 31 years old, Kittle remained efficient on the field in 2024, catching 83% of his targets on the year. The advanced analytics also support his new deal, as PFF graded him as the leagues top tight end with an overall grade of 92.1. He was named the scouting service’s top receiver, and 2nd best run blocker amongst his peers at TE.
The extension also makes sense from a dollars and cents perspective as well. Kittle was poised to have a $22M cap hit in 2025, followed by 3 void years, but will now see that figure reduced by nearly $3M per season.
That being said, San Francisco is banking on their veteran tight end remaining healthy and continuing to produce at an elite level. Though he’s suited up for 15, 16, 15, and 14 games respectively over the past 4 seasons, Kittle’s physical brand of football leads to him continuously playing with nicks and minor injuries. As he continues to age, whether these start sidelining him more frequently remains to be seen.
Nevertheless, 49ers fans will likely be happy to see one of their homegrown talents extended given the recent exodus from the Bay Area of fan favourites.
Photo: Erik Drost. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.