SAN FRANCISCO — George Kittle is a happy man.
In his first public comments since finalizing a four-year contract extension with the 49ers worth $76.4 million last Tuesday, the tight end shared his emotions in an exclusive interview with NBC Sports Bay Area.
“I am very happy that it is done,” Kittle said. “My last contract extension went into training camp and that is a little bit stressful.”
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SIGN UP HERE The All-Pro kicked off the weekend at the de Young Museum in Golden Gate Park, where almost 250 children received free vision screening provided by Zenni. Several of the children were invited to attend a “chalk talk” with Kittle, where they learned how to draw up a few of the 49ers' plays.
The children received a complimentary pair of EyeQLenz glasses that help protect against blue light, UV light, and infrared light, and were able to meet Kittle and take pictures after the event.
Kittle always has a positive attitude, but Kittle seemed even more enthusiastic with the business side of the game behind him. With contract talks in the review mirror, he can focus on what needs to happen on the field.
“I was just appreciative to get it done now,” Kittle said. “Because the weight on your shoulders and the stress, because you know something is going to happen and you just want it to get done.
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“That stress is alleviated from your shoulders and you can kind of not be concerned with anything happening, and be your best self every single day and you know that you have that security a little bit so you’re not worried about it.”
Five years ago, former 49ers cornerback Richard Sherman offered an analogy of sorts in order to help the tight end get through the contract negotiation process.
“The first time I was going through contract negotiations in 2020, it was just a long process,” Kittle said. “And he just said ’Hey, look. Contracts are like braces, you hate them, they look terrible, the entire time they are doing them but the second you get them off, you have a beautiful smile and a bag of cash and you won’t remember anything about the braces.'
“I was like, ‘That was awesome.’ And that is exactly how you feel about it. I was thankful to have a leader like that. Sherm gave me those tips and as long as I can pass those down to other guys, it’s very helpful.”
Obviously, this round, Kittle didn’t have as long of a process of “braces” to go through and has even offered the parallel to 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy, who is going through his own contract negotiations.
“It was short and sweet,” Kittle said of his second contract extension.
“That is a great quote, I’ve already used that quote on Brock, not to bring him into this but I already used that quote for him and he likes it as well. It was much quicker. We got it done in a month-ish, so I was very excited about that. It was a lot different than last time, when it was like seven months.”