Update: George Kittle has seemingly shot down this report from Sports Illustrated. Click here for those details.
Grant Cohn of Sports Illustrated started his report by writing "Take this for what it's worth," so there is that.
He does, however, report that the San Francisco 49ers will on Friday announce a six-year contract extension worth up to $94.8 million for All-Pro tight end George Kittle, according to a source. That comes out to $15.8 million per season. That will include a $25 million signing bonus and will be structured so that it only impacts the 49ers' salary cap by $10 million in 2021. It will also reportedly include $47.4 million guaranteed.
Those are a lot of details for a rumor, so it is hard to doubt it. And such a deal would make Kittle the highest-paid tight end in football by a significant margin.
"This seems like a fair deal for both the 49ers and Kittle," wrote Cohn. "The 49ers don't have to pay Kittle $17 million per season, which is wide-receiver money. They get a discount because he's a tight end. But Kittle gets lots of guaranteed money and security because he has earned it."
This isn't the first rumor of a deal being imminent. None so far, however, have come to fruition.
Kittle has been the 49ers' best player over the past two seasons, accumulating over 1,000 receiving yards in each. San Francisco made the tight end a fifth-round draft pick out of Iowa in 2017, and he has since earned two Pro Bowl selections and was last season named a first-team All-Pro.