George Kittle and the 49ers agree to another record-setting contract

George Kittle is again the NFL’s highest paid tight end, the perch he’s held for most of this decade. Kittle and the 49ers agreed to a four-year, $76.4 million contract extension that paces all league tight ends in every key category, according to the podcast “Bussin’ With The Boys.”

“Pretty happy, why not?” Kittle said as he signed his contract. “Third contract, same football team, great foundation, great organization. Pinch myself right now. Happy to be here.”

Kittle’s deal comes out to $19.1 million in average per year, or APY, exceeding the $19 million for Cardinals tight end Trey McBride. Arizona executed that deal, worth $76 million over four years, this month. That was a necessary step for Kittle, who’s the game’s best tight end, to edge McBride out. There’s $35 million fully guaranteed money in this contract, which is also a new high-water mark.

Kittle had reported to the voluntary portion of the 49ers’ offseason program right around the time of the NFL Draft. The team released a photo of him greeting first-round pick Mykel Williams, who arrived in Santa Clara on Friday morning.

Symbolically, it was a powerful image. The 31-year old Kittle is the second-longest tenured 49er. He joined the team just weeks after fullback Kyle Juszczyk — who also re-signed this offseason — as a fifth-round draft pick in 2017. The 49ers, even amid their youth movement this offseason, have stressed the importance of retaining their core pillars so they can neatly tie together the past, present, and future.

“We want George to retire a Niner,” general manager John Lynch said at the NFL Scouting Combine in February. “He’s a Niner through and through.”

Kittle had been under contract for one more season, which had been enough to tie him to the team for a total of nine years. Lynch has been adamant about keeping Kittle and Juszczyk with the franchise for at least a decade, which would secure their spots on the coveted “10-year wall” in the 49ers’ facility.

“In 2017, our first year with the 49ers, we selected a skinny tight end from Iowa whom we were really excited about,” Lynch said in a press release Tuesday. “We had high hopes, but no one knew that he would become the player that he is today,” 

This business was never overly complicated. Kittle was always destined to regain the top tight end contractual spot, a position he first secured when signing a four-year, $60 million deal ($15 million APY) with the 49ers in 2020. And there’s a reason the team was so eager to extend Kittle as he entered the lame-duck year of that contract: A star tight end — thanks to NFL market forces — offers perhaps the best value in football.

Kittle has delivered the receiving efficiency of an elite wideout at less than half the cost. Consider that the highest-paid receiver, Cincinnati’s Ja’Marr Chase, makes more than $40 million annually.

Kittle, at $19.1 million annually, then, is an absolute bargain for the 49ers. The surefire future Hall of Famer is not only one of the game’s best receivers but also one of its best blockers. And now the chances are very, very good that he’ll be a lifelong 49er.

Next, the 49ers will turn to finalizing a massive contract extension for quarterback Brock Purdy. They may also be interested in extended receiver Jauan Jennings, who’s also entering the lame-duck year of his deal. Superstar linebacker Fred Warner is also on the docket, although his matter is less urgent — he has two years remaining on his contract.

The 49ers have not been shy about dishing out cash to A-list players. This new contract for Kittle marks the 10th time since Lynch and coach Kyle Shanahan took over in 2017 that the 49ers have given out positional-record money to a player. That’s the most of any team in the NFL during that period.