49ers TE George Kittle says he signed 4-year, $76.4M extension - ESPN

Moments after putting the finishing touches on his eighth NFL season, tight end George Kittle made it clear that he wants to finish his career where it started: with the San Francisco 49ers.

Kittle took a significant step toward reaching that goal as he and the Niners agreed to a four-year, $76.4 million contract extension that will keep him with the only NFL team he's ever known, he told the «Bussin' With The Boys» podcast Tuesday.

The extension includes $40 million in guaranteed money and will almost certainly lower Kittle's previously scheduled 2025 salary cap number of $22,085,000. That cap hit would exceed his previous highest cap hit by a little less than $10 million.

It also puts the 31-year-old Kittle, who has vowed to keep playing «until the wheels fall off,» in position to play his entire career with the team that originally selected him with a fifth-round pick in the 2017 NFL draft.

«My goal is to wear the red and gold my entire career,» Kittle told ESPN on Jan. 5.

Even if the extension doesn't guarantee that will happen, it undoubtedly gives Kittle a strong chance to reach a more short-term goal: joining the 49ers' 10-year club. That club honors players who have played at least 10 consecutive seasons in San Francisco and includes 51 players since the team's inception in 1946 but hasn't added anyone since tackle Joe Staley in 2017.

Kittle will be entering his ninth season in 2025, meaning he'd need to just play one of the additional years added to his deal to be the next member of that club. It's something Kittle called «a huge goal of mine.»

If Kittle continues at anything near his current trajectory, he should have no issue pushing to 10 years in San Francisco and beyond as he's coming off one of his best