San Francisco 49ers tight end George Kittle will see a significant pay raise starting next year. His base salary is scheduled to increase from $1.25 million in 2021 to $11.45 million in 2022, per OverTheCap.com.
According to ESPN's Adam Schefter, that $11.45 million just became fully guaranteed. Previously, only about $6.4 million of his salary was guaranteed.
49ers' TE George Kittle's $11.45 million base salary for the 2022 season becomes fully guaranteed today.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) April 1, 2021
Schefter reported the news at 7:20 am Eastern, and the All-Pro tight end was awake to see the tweet.
Good morning to you too Schefty !!
— George Kittle (@gkittle46) April 1, 2021
Not as good as your morning, George.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) April 1, 2021
Kittle signed a five-year, $75 million contract extension last August. With a lot of uncertainty surrounding the 2021 salary cap at the time, the deal offered some cap relief with a low base salary and a cap hit of just $5.45 million, which includes bonuses. That number increases to $16.1 million in 2022.
The NFL set this year's salary cap to $182.5 million per team, a figure that is $15.7 million less than last year's cap number. San Francisco is estimated to have about $19.6 million in cap space right now, which ranks as the ninth-most in the league.
Kittle, 27, appeared in eight games last season, catching 48 passes for 634 yards with two touchdowns. He recorded over 1,000 yards receiving in each of his previous two seasons.
