There won’t be a Tight End University without Professor George Kittle! But professors are not known to be rich but again, this is a whole different league and Kittle is easily under the top 5 highest paid tight ends in the league. Maybe he will break that record when his contract runs through its course next year. So, what’s his contract really about?

Worry not. We’re here to guide you with Kittle’s contract and a whole lot more. Who knew that a fifth-round pick would take the San Francisco 49ers in the Super Bowl twice? The first time he did it was in the 2019 season against the Kansas City Chiefs. Though the Niners lost, they didn’t fail to reward Kittle with a massive 5-year extension.

All about George Kittle’s dealings with the San Francisco 49ers

After Kittle played 14 games and recorded 1,053 yards and 5 touchdowns in the 2019 Super Bowl runner-up season, the Niners decided to give him a 5-year $75 million extension, which at the time might have been the biggest extension for a tight end, until Travis Kelce got an extension. But that’s not the point.

Coming back to Kittle, his contract runs through the 2025 season. So next year, we might see a record-breaking TE extension. When the TE signed his 5-year extension, he was given a fat signing bonus of $18 million. One of the highlights of his deal is that it will give him $40 million guaranteed money, with an average salary of $15 million! Sources suggest that Kittle has a net worth of a whopping $20 million.

His contract is still back loaded, but let’s start from 2020. Let’s look at this table to see what’s going on with his deal.

One thing is for sure, though. Kittle’s deal is structured heavily around bonuses as he gets $3.6 million in bonuses every year! Only recently he’s started getting restructure bonuses as well. Teams often shuffle around bonus money to create cap space. However, Kittle’s contract might not require that much tampering.

You might be noticing a change towards the end of the contract. It is back-loaded because teams can borrow money from his future contract and choose to pay him in the present. In that spirit, the 49ers TE is making a base salary of $1.2 million and a restructure bonus of $12.19 million in 2024 season, per Spotrac.

More about George Kittle and his massive earnings

Did you know that George Kittle has made $48.5 million in his career earnings? Being a tight end is difficult because he has to play on both sides of the ball. But we can rely on him to stay strapped even when he’s not playing offense. Did you know why the TE is making $12.1 million on bonuses this year? Because the Niners converted $12.19 millions of his 2024 salary into a signing bonus.

This move added 1 void year to his contact and created $9.752 million in cap space. Talk about getting paid and helping your team at the same time. But this isn’t something new because the Niners have been fiddling with his salary in 2022 and 2023 to free up more than $8.33 million in cap space in both years!

A fun fact: Remember the game where he wore the “F*ck Dallas” T-shirt? He got fined $13,659 for that stunt. But that’s chump change compared to what he’s making with the Niners. Last season he took his team to the Super Bowl again, and he played a crucial role with his 65 receptions, 1,020 yards and 6 touchdowns. This was his 3 best season in terms of yardage. Things are looking good for the next year, as he has a huge paycheck coming his way. Can he get the Niners to a Super Bowl once again and score one more extension? Let’s see what happens.