Nothing is promised in the NFL.
That being said, 49ers tight end George Kittle knows how lucky he is to have spent so many seasons with one team in the Bay -- but he also knows he earned it. With longtime homes in the league so hard to come by, Kittle recently told teammate Deebo Samuel when he realized the 49ers were his.
"My second year, I had over 1,300 yards and a bunch of touchdowns, and I was like, 'Oh, well if I just play like this again, they're going to reward me because I play the game the right way,' " Kittle said on Samuel's latest "Cleats & Convos" podcast. "Because you can do all this stuff off the field, whatever it is, but everybody watches the tape. That's all they respect.
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"And if you have good tape and people respect you, someone's going to pay you a lot of money to do it."
The 49ers selected Kittle in the fifth round (No. 146 overall) of the 2017 NFL Draft, and he went on to catch 43 passes for 515 yards and two touchdowns during his rookie season. His sophomore campaign in 2018 was his breakout, when he hauled in 88 receptions for 1,377 yards and five touchdowns.
After Kittle compiled a nearly identical season in 2019, the 49ers rewarded him during the offseason with a lucrative five-year, $75 million contract extension in August 2020, making him the highest-paid tight end in NFL history at the time.
You certainly could say he was home.
San Francisco 49ers
"I'm glad to be here in SF," Kittle concluded.
Despite uncertainty at quarterback throughout his first five-and-a-half NFL seasons, Kittle now has some consistency under center in Brock Purdy, and the two have enjoyed plenty of success together. The All-Pro tight end recorded his third 1,000-yard season last year in Purdy's first full campaign as the 49ers' starting quarterback, and he leads the 49ers in touchdowns this season.
While it remains to be seen what Kittle's next contract will be -- he is due to become a free agent following the 2025 season -- there's no denying San Francisco is where the People's Tight End is meant to be.