The 49ers and tight end George Kittle finalized a new five-year contract on Tuesday.
The full details of the deal have arrived.
Here they are:
1. Signing bonus: $18.145 million ($3 million to be paid by May 9, 2025, $8.145 million to be paid by September 12, 2025, and $7 million to be paid by April 3, 2026).
2. 2025 offseason workout bonus: $100,000, fully guaranteed but must be earned.
3. 2025 base salary: $1.255 million, fully guaranteed.
4. 2025 per-game active roster bonus: $500,000 total, fully guaranteed but must be earned.
5. 2026 offseason workout bonus: $100,000, fully guaranteed but must be earned.
6. 2026 base salary: $12.4 million, fully guaranteed. ($10.9 million may be paid as an option bonus.)
7. 2026 per-game active roster bonus: $500,000 total, fully guaranteed but must be earned.
8. 2027 offseason workout bonus: $100,000.
9. 2027 base salary: $17.15 million, fully guaranteed, $2 million of which is fully guaranteed at signing and $5 million more of which is conditionally guaranteed based on 2026 performance. ($15.5 million may be paid as an option bonus.)
10. 2027 per-game active roster bonus: $750,000 total.
11. 2028 offseason workout bonus: $100,000.
12. 2028 base salary: $17.15 million. ($15.4 million may be paid as an option bonus.)
13. 2028 per-game active roster bonus: $750,000 total.
14. 2029 offseason workout bonus: $100,000.
15. 2029 base salary: $21.55 million. ($19.8 million may be paid as an option bonus.)
16. 2029 per-game active roster bonus: $750,000 total.
The deal pays out $91.4 million over five years, for an annual average at signing on $18.28 million.
The new-money average for the four-year extension is $76.4 million, an average of $19.1 million per year. Removing the $22.4 million compensation package for 2029, the new-money average is $18 million.
The $18 million practical new-money APY puts him behind Cardinals tight end Trey McBride, whose contract doesn’t include an inflated final year, as the highest-paid tight end. At $18 million, Kittle remains ahead of all other tight ends.
The first two years ($33 million) and $2 million of the third year are fully guaranteed at signing. He can unlock another $5 million in 2027 guarantees by reaching any one of nine different possible achievements in 2026: (1) participating in the Pro Bowl as a starter or backup, unless medically excused, after qualifying on the initial ballot; (2) earn first-team or second-team All-Pro honors; (3) gaining 1,000 or more receiving yards; (4) catching 10 or more touchdown passes; (5) catching 60 or more passes for 850 or more yards; (6) catching 60 or more passes for five or more touchdowns; (7) scoring five or more touchdown reception and generating 850 or more receiving yards; (8) participating in 75 percent or more of the offensive snaps and the team wins at least one playoff game; or (9) participating in 65 percent or more of the offensive snaps and catching 60 or more passes.
Kittle replaces the remaining year of his existing contract at $15 million with two guaranteed years at $33 million and another $2 million in guarantees for the third year. He has the ability to bump the total guarantee to $40 million.
The 49ers are committed as a practical matter to two years. It becomes a year-to-year arrangement after that.
Free agent offensive tackle D.J. Humphries is signing with the 49ers, his representation, AMDG Sports, announced on social media Tuesday.
Humphries signed with the Chiefs on Nov. 23, 2024, after recovering from a torn ACL late in the 2023 season. The Chiefs anticipated Humphries taking over at left tackle, but in his first game, which came in Week 14, he injured his hamstring.
Humphries returned in Week 18 to play 32 snaps, but he played no offensive snaps in the postseason as Joe Thuney moved from guard to left tackle. Humphries, 31, did play nine special teams snaps in the team’s first two postseason games. He did not get on the field in the Super Bowl.
The Cardinals made Humphries a first-round pick in 2015, and he made the Pro Bowl in 2021. He started 98 games in his nine seasons in Arizona.
When it comes to new contracts, the number that gets publicized more than any other is the new-money average per year. When it’s time to get to the truth of new contracts, the first question is whether the new-money APY is real, or inflated.
We’ll be getting the real numbers on the George Kittle extension soon. For now, we’re told that the four-year extension contains an inflated final-year salary that pushes the new-money average from $18 million per year to $19.1 million.
Why $19.1 million? Because the highest-paid tight end, Trey McBride of the Cardinals, has a new-money APY of $19 million.
Kittle is 31. It’s unlikely that he’ll finish a five-year contract. Dumping a phony salary into the final season doesn’t impact the 49ers.
This isn’t a criticism of Kittle. It’s a reality of the NFL contract game. Agents want to be able to use the fact that they’ve negotiated the richest deal ever for a player at a given position as a springboard for recruiting new clients. The team goes along with it to make the player/agent happy, since it ultimately won’t cost the team a penny. The money is non-guaranteed, and the contract will be torn up or renegotiated if/when the final year arrives.
And the media runs with the numbers the agent disseminates, because he who hesitates has lost the thumb race on Twitter.
It’s an important dynamic to consider as the 49ers negotiate with quarterback Brock Purdy. His deal quite possibly will have a massive new-money APY, and it possibly will include some unrealistic back-end numbers and/or provide the 49ers with multiple escape hatches.
Our guess is that it will guarantee Purdy two years of pay, with the team able to make a year-to-year decision after that.
The full Kittle contract and structure might contain more clues about what’s coming for Purdy, especially since the Kittle deal was negotiated under the cloud of the ongoing Purdy talks.
The 49ers have made it official with George Kittle, announcing that the tight end has signed a four-year extension with the club on Tuesday morning.
Kittle previously announced the deal was agreed to on the Bussin’ with the Boys podcast.
“In 2017, our first year with the 49ers, we selected a skinny tight end from Iowa whom we were really excited about. We had high hopes, but no one knew that he would become the player that he is today,” 49ers G.M. John Lynch said in a statement. “George’s leadership, enthusiasm for the game, for his teammates, and the Faithful are truly unique and special. He is an outstanding representation for the 49ers on the field and is an outstanding representative for the organization off the field with his investment in the local and military communities. He has a great sense of pride in his role and has put in the work to be one of the best tight ends in the NFL.”
A fifth-round pick in 2017, Kittle has become one of the most productive tight ends of his generation. He has eclipsed 1,000 yards receiving four times — including in 2024 when he caught 78 passes for 1,106 yards with eight touchdowns.
Kittle is No. 3 on the club’s all-time list in receptions (538) and receiving yards (7,380), trailing just Hall of Famers Jerry Rice and Terrell Owens.
Tight end George Kittle joined the 49ers for their offseason conditioning last Friday, which was a sign that his effort to land a new contract were moving in a positive direction.
They have now reached the finish line. Kittle announced on the Bussin’ With the Boys podcast that he and the 49ers have agreed to a four-year contract extension.
Kittle stands to make $76.4 million under the terms of the deal and there is $40 million in guaranteed money. The total value and average per year are the most of any tight end.
A report at the start of last week indicated Kittle and the team were far apart in their negotiations and Kittle did not report for the first days of voluntary work with the team. His appearance on Friday may have helped push talks to completion and it sets him up to push his run with the team to 13 years if he reaches the end of this pact.
With Kittle locked up, the 49ers will now likely move on to finishing a new deal with quarterback Brock Purdy.
One of the Broncos’ key free agent signees won’t see the field for a while.
Jennifer Lee Chan of NBC Sports Bay Area reports that linebacker Dre Greenlaw tore a quadriceps while working out. The injury could force him to miss a substantial portion of the 2025 season, per Chan.
It is unknown whether Greenlaw will require surgery to repair it.
The Broncos declined comment to Chan.
Greenlaw tore his Achilles in Super Bowl LVIII to end the 2023 season and missed most of last season before a brief return. He played only Weeks 14-15 before knee and calf soreness related to his Achilles ended his season.
Greenlaw, who turns 28 next month, made nine tackles last season.
He spent six seasons with the 49ers before becoming a free agent. General Manager John Lynch and Kyle Shanahan flew to Texas to meet with Greenlaw after he had committed to the Broncos, but Greenlaw still signed a three-year deal worth up to $31.5 million.
UPDATE 8:08 P.M. ET: A source tells PFT that Greenlaw strained his quadriceps and will miss eight weeks. He is expected to return in time for training camp.
The 49ers have an injury issue that previously wasn’t known.
Nick Wagoner of ESPN.com reports safety Malik Mustapha underwent an ACL repair following the 2024 season. He suffered the injury in Week 18, against the Cardinals.
He took a cleat to the knee during the game. Initially, it was believed that he was fine. An MRI conducted later in the week revealed that the graft from a 2022 ACL repair had torn.
Via Cam Inman of the Bay Area News Group, the 49ers confirmed the Mustapha injury and surgery on Saturday night.
The injury means that rookie fifth-rounder Marques Sigle could be playing right away. Mustapha isn’t expected to be ready to go until the middle of the season.
Mustapha was a fourth-round pick of the 49ers in 2024. He appeared in 16 games with 12 starts as a rookie.
The 49ers added safeties Richie Grant and Jason Pinnock in free agency. They lost Talanoa Hufanga to the Broncos after his rookie contract expired.
Ji’Ayir Brown and George Odum also are on the roster.
The 2024 season was a disappointing one in San Francisco, with the 49ers entering the year as the favorites in every game on their schedule, and ultimately going just 6-11.
Now the 49ers head into the 2025 NFL Draft with some major needs, with an offensive lineman, defensive lineman or cornerback likely to be the positions they target in the first round.
San Francisco 49ers 2025 NFL Draft Picks
Round 1: No. 11 - Mykel Williams, EDGE, Georgia
Round 2: No. 43 - Alfred Collins, DT, Texas
Round 3: No. 75 - Nick Martin, LB, Oklahoma State
Round 3: No. 100 (Compensatory) - Upton Stout, CB, Western Kentucky
Round 4: No. 113 - CJ West, DT, Indiana
Round 4: No. 138 (Compensatory) - Jordan Watkins, WR, Ole Miss
Round 5: No. 147 (from NO via WAS) - Jordan James, RB, Oregon
Round 5: No. 160 (from MIN) - Marques Sigle, S, Kansas State
Round 7: No. 227 - Kurtis Rourke, QB, Indiana
Round 7: No. 249 (Compensatory) - Connor Colby, G, Iowa
Round 7: No. 252 (Compensatory) - Junior Bergen, WR, Montana
Check out 2025 NFL Draft picks for other teams in the NFC West:
Seattle Seahawks 2025 NFL Draft picks
Los Angeles Rams 2025 NFL Draft picks
Arizona Cardinals 2025 NFL Draft picks
Click here to see the entire 2025 NFL Draft order. Coverage of the latest news from around the NFL is available all year round from Pro Football Talk on Peacock and the NFL on NBC YouTube Channel.
For the full slate of NFL Draft content from across NBC Sports, click here.
Drafting a quarterback in the seventh round worked out well for the 49ers with Brock Purdy, and today they’ve done it again.
The 49ers drafted Indiana quarterback Kurtis Rourke with the 227th overall pick.
Rourke probably would have been a higher pick if not for the fact that he has twice torn his right ACL. Last year he played the entire season despite suffering his second ACL tear at the start of the season. He got it surgically repaired only when it was detected during pre-draft medical checks.
It’s unclear whether Rourke will be cleared to play this season, and if he does he’d at best be the third quarterback behind Purdy and Mac Jones.
Rourke was a second-team All-Big Ten quarterback and led Indiana to a spot in the College Football Playoff. He could develop into a solid NFL quarterback, and he’ll try to do so this year in Kyle Shanahan’s offense.
Just before the 49ers selection to end the fourth round was announced, team owner Jed York posted, “Let’s change it up” on social media.
That was as good an indication as any that San Francisco was finally going to bring in an offensive player, which is exactly what they did.
The 49ers took receiver Jordan Watkins out of Ole Miss at No. 138 overall.
Watkins, 23, spent his first two collegiate seasons at Louisville before transferring to Ole Miss in 2022. He led the SEC with nine receiving touchdowns in 2024, catching 49 passes for 906 yards.
In his 60 total collegiate games with 42 starts, Watkins caught 185 passes for 2,682 yards with 18 TDs.
The 49ers had previously selected defensive players with their first five picks in this year’s draft, starting with defensive end Mykel Williams at No. 11 in the first round.
