Report: 49ers turned down 2nd-round pick for George Kittle before 2025 NFL Draft

San Francisco 49ers tight end George Kittle has spent all of his NFL career so far in San Francisco, and a recent decision that he and the 49ers made suggests that he will stick around with the team for a while longer.

The 49ers signed Kittle to a four-year contract extension, and he will be under contract with San Francisco through the 2029 campaign.

Notably, not long before the start of the 2025 NFL Draft, San Francisco was apparently offered a second-round pick in exchange for Kittle, but the 49ers turned down the offer.

“I know there was a team that had a conversation with the 49ers the night before the draft about a possible trade for Kittle — a second-rounder they were looking to get in return,” The Athletic’s Dianna Russini said. “They turned it down. The 49ers decided to keep him and really move this situation forward by getting a deal done. But there was — there was a little interest there, some poking around.”

Russini theorized why the 49ers didn’t trade Kittle for a valuable draft pick.

“I don’t think the 49ers ever wanted to walk away from George Kittle, either,” she said. “I don’t think George Kittle wanted to walk away from the 49ers. I think they’ve always wanted to be together. Everyone just wanted to feel like they were winning in the negotiation.”

Kittle is a six-time Pro Bowler and earned a Pro Bowl nod in the 2024 season after he finished with 1,000-plus receiving yards for a second season in a row. The 31-year-old racked up the third-most receiving yards of any player at his position in the league. Only Brock Bowers of the Las Vegas Raiders and Trey McBride of the Arizona Cardinals ended up with more.

On top of that, he also totaled eight receiving touchdowns and 50 first downs receiving while appearing in 15 games.

Kittle has been one of the premier tight ends in the NFL practically since his career began, as he’s never totaled fewer than 515 receiving yards in a single campaign in the big leagues and has finished a season with as many as 1,377. He had the most productive season of his NFL career to this point in terms of receiving yards in his sophomore season, the 2018 season.

The 49ers have been frequent Super Bowl contenders in recent years, as San Francisco has appeared in two Super Bowls since the start of the 2019 season, and the consistent play of Kittle has been a real factor in the team’s sustained success.

With any luck, Kittle will help the 49ers finally get over the hump and win a Super Bowl in the 2025 season. San Francisco is on the heels of one of its worst seasons in recent memory, as the 49ers won just six games in the 2024 campaign and missed the playoffs.