"Boggles my mind" - 49ers' George Kittle up-in-arms over pay disparity between receivers and top tight ends
San Francisco 49ers star tight end George Kittle is known for his great play on the field as well as speaking his mind. In an interview Friday on Pro Football Talk P.M., Kittle was more of the latter as he spoke about the disparity in pay between the top receivers and the top tight ends in the league.
Here's some of what the Pro Bowl tight end had to say about the matter:
“Travis Kelce, six seasons in a row, 1000 yards. I’m pretty sure he has the most receiving yards of any wide receiver, skill position in the last six years. He gets paid half of what a wide receiver makes, which just boggles my mind."
He went on:
"I mean, to me, Travis Kelce, he’s been doing it for so long and at such a high level. And he doesn’t have an off game. I think he has one bad game a year, and it’s just because he’s getting triple-teamed."
Travis Kelce, All-Pro tight end for the Kansas City Chiefs, is arguably considered the best tight end in the game today and is trending towards being one of the best tight ends of all-time.
Kittle continued with his thoughts on some of the best tight ends in the game today:
“When he gets the ball in his hands, he’s a monster. . . . More tight ends are starting to get the ball more and starting to be more part of the offense...be more explosive. I love watching Darren Waller. I love watching Mark Andrews. (Zach) Ertz is really fun now down in Arizona. That’s just fun to see him just kind of dominate, getting a lot of touchdowns. (T.J.) Hockenson, (Robert) Tonyan."
He continued his praise of the Chief's star:
"There’s all these tight ends that are explosive and fun to watch, but Kelce — when you have six 1.000 yards in a row, you’re one hell of a football player.”
George Kittle ended his thoughts by emphasizing the importance of the tight end position to the game of football today:
“Every NFL team . . . that’s won a Super Bowl or been to the Super Bowl for like the last five years has had an All-Pro tight end a part of the team. I feel a tight end’s not just like a cog in the wheel, it’s an important position that can really add to your offense or diminish it.”
Who will start at quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers next season?
The 49ers have a conundrum to solve when determining who will start at quarterback next season. Will incumbent quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo start? He led the team to within four points of getting to Super Bowl LVI in a strong showing last season.
Or will it be Trey Lance, who was selected by the team with the 3rd overall pick of the 2021 NFL Draft?
It's unconventional for a team to take a player in such a high draft slot only to stay with the quarterback that was previously on the roster. With that in mind, it baffles many to understand why the 49ers have not come out to definitively state that Trey Lance will be the starting quarterback in 2022. Perhaps that is because they are unsure themselves as there have been rumblings that Lance is not yet ready to take over the reins of the quarterback position.
The 49ers want everyone to think it's all good with Trey Lance, as new stories keep circulating on how he's not ready to be the starting QB.
If he was good enough, there wouldn't be these stories, and Jimmy Garoppolo - even with his injury - would be on another team. So...
49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan hedged his bets on the issue by saying back in March that the team was all-in on Lance being the starter next year and were looking to trade Garoppolo. Garoppolo, however, remains in San Francisco.
49ers coach Kyle Shanahan asked if the natural progression is for Trey Lance to start this year: “That’s why we looked into trading Jimmy (Garoppolo).” Shanahan said they haven’t made a call on what it’ll look like if both are on the roster.
The quarterback had surgery on his throwing shoulder back in March and is not expected to be able to throw until July, so that may be the holdup with the trade of Tom Brady's former understudy.
Until then, the rest of the NFL world awaits to see who will call the shots for the 49ers in 2022.