George Kittle Happy 49ers Avoiding 'Drama-Filled' Offseason amid Purdy Contract Talks

The San Francisco 49ers have endured some dramatic offseasons of late, but that isn't the case this year. That fact makes tight end George Kittle happy, as relayed in an exclusive interview with Jennifer Lee Chan of NBC Sports Bay Area.

“I’m happy that we don’t have a bunch of guys holding out for contracts,” Kittle said. “I’m glad that we are not having a super drama-filled offseason. I think every year of my career we’ve had a quarterback controversy at some point. And to not have that, it’s going great.

“And just when you have everybody in the building or the majority of the guys in the building, just the energy in the locker room is fantastic, the weight room is awesome, guys are working really hard. We have a lot of new free agents this year, so you want to meet everybody. You want everybody to get to know you before you get into the grind of training camp.” 

The 49ers entered this offseason with starting quarterback Brock Purdy entering the final year of his rookie deal. Despite not having that long-term deal in place, Purdy attended Phase 1 of the team's voluntary offseason workouts in April, as NBC Sports Bay Area's Taylor Wirth noted.

Kittle himself is the owner of the richest tight end contract in NFL history now after signing a four-year, $76.4 million contract extension, so all is well with him on the contract front too.

In past years, the 49ers have dealt with contract concerns, including ones from Brandon Aiyuk, Trent Williams and Nick Bosa. They all ended up signing deals with San Francisco, though, and stayed aboard.

But the 49ers have also had quarterback drama, as ESPN's Nick Wagoner noted in March 2024 last year. Of note, the 49ers selected Trey Lance with the third overall pick in the 2021 NFL draft, and he was supposed to be the heir apparent to veteran Jimmy Garoppolo.

Jimmy G was still the starter in 2021, and Lance was QB1 entering 2022 before suffering a season-ending injury in Week 1. Garoppolo took over but then suffered a season-ending injury on Dec. 4, 2022, and that led to Purdy taking over. He's been QB1 ever since.

The 49ers certainly don't want to deal with any drama this offseason, especially after the team just finished last in the NFC West with a 6-11 record. But it's all good so far as San Francisco looks to become a perennial playoff team and Super Bowl contender again.