49ers explore ways to solve Kittle’s contract conundrum
George Kittle has more than seven career starts, isn’t coming off multiple surgeries and doesn’t have a resume lacking Pro Bowl or AllPro honors.
The point: Unlike many of his teammates in recent seasons, the tight end viewed as one of the league’s best players has little reason to accept the type of teamfriendly contract the 49ers are known for handing out.
Those type of deals were given to Jimmy Garoppolo in 2018 when the quarterback had fewer than a halfseason’s worth of career starts.
And to cornerback Richard
Sherman that same year when he was rehabbing from surgeries on both Achilles.
And to a host of solidbutnotsuperstar players — linebacker Kwon Alexander, defensive lineman Arik Armstead, safety Jimmie Ward, center Weston Richburg and running back Jerick McKinnon — who have not been voted to a Pro Bowl or named to an AllPro team.
Of course, this is relevant because Kittle, 26, is in the final
year of his rookie contract and is seeking an extension that will dramatically reset the NFL’s relatively modest tightend market.
Kittle wants to be paid more like a highend wide receiver, a position that’s far better compensated. But an interesting detail emerged this week in a report about the “minimal” progress between Kittle’s agent, Jack Bechta, and the 49ers: Kittle wants a Kittlefriendly contract structure.
“It’s not just money,” NFL Network’s Mike Silver said after communicating with Bechta. “There is structure. And how much money a player like George Kittle could get up front. How much would actually be guaranteed.”
In other words, Kittle doesn’t want a standard frontloaded contract that allows the 49ers to part ways with little financial penalty within the first two seasons. In addition, he’s presumably in search of a deal with far more fully guaranteed money than the 49ers have given a nonQB.
And that helps explain the apparent impasse with the 49ers’ first official practice of training camp Saturday. Their first padded practice is Monday.
The 49ers “like deals their way,” said an NFL agent who has had multiple 49ers clients. “It might be best for George to remain as patient as possible and not to rush anything. He has all the leverage.”
Kittle is under contract for 2020 and is scheduled to earn about $2.1 million. The 49ers could, in theory, apply the franchise tag in each of the next three seasons, which would pay Kittle probably around $40 million over that span.
The 49ers don’t want to break precedent with their contracts.
However, they also don’t want to set a precedent by not rewarding another young, AllPro player who is a team captain and model of what the franchise wants to represent.
In March, instead of signing DeForest Buckner, 26, to a contract extension that would have made him one of the NFL’s highestpaid interior defensive linemen, they traded Buckner to the Colts.
General manager John Lynch termed it the most difficult decision of his threeyear tenure.
“We spend a lot of time talking about, ‘What’s a 49er to us?’ ” Lynch said in April. “And DeForest Buckner embodied that in every way on and off the field.”
Kittle was voted a team captain in his second season. He’s had the only two 1,000yard seasons by a tight end in franchise history. He ranks sixth in the NFL in receiving yards (2,430) since 2018 and 11th in receptions (173). He’s the NFL’s best blocking tight end. He has played through several significant injuries. He recently was voted the league’s seventhbest player based on player voting compiled by NFL Network.
Head coach Kyle Shanahan was asked in December if Kittle merited NFL MVP consideration based on his impact on the 49ers.
“Yes, definitely,” Shanahan said. “I know I feel that way and pretty sure that everyone we play against would answer it the same way I just did. … I mean, he’s playing at a different level out there. The will he plays with, the aggressiveness he plays with. It’s a different level, a different mindset and I think everyone can feel that, especially the players trying to tackle him.”
The 49ers aren’t used to this. They are accustomed to negotiating their biggest contracts with players whose circumstances meant they were willing to accept their structure.
In 2018, when Garoppolo had 12 career touchdown passes, his fiveyear, $137.5 million extension briefly made him the league’s highestpaid QB. But it was on the 49ers’ terms: He received his entire $51.4 million of fully guaranteed money in his first two years, meaning the 49ers could have released or traded Garoppolo before this past April 1 and taken a relatively modest deadcap hit ($4.2 million).
Since 2018, the 49ers have given Alexander, Richburg and McKinnon, none of whom has made a Pro Bowl, freeagent deals that paid them at least $11.7 million fully guaranteed in the first season. Those contracts had no fully guaranteed money beyond Year 1.
Unlike those players, Sherman was a perennial AllPro selection. However, his threeyear, $39 million deal was loaded with incentives and included just $3 million fully guaranteed at signing because he was about to turn 30 and was rehabbing from two surgeries.
In March, Armstead and Ward, both injuryplagued, firstround picks who finally had breakout seasons in 2019, signed extensions that fell in line with past 49ers deals.
Kittle deserves a precedentbusting extension.
But the situation isn’t simple. The salary cap could drop nearly $25 million in 2021 because of lost NFL revenue tied to the coronavirus pandemic. And the 49ers will face a financial squeeze with a host of key players from their loaded roster set to be unrestricted free agents.
They face a conundrum: How can they keep their championship dreams alive while properly rewarding a player who is their heartbeat?