From Kittle’s perspective, you can see why he and his camp think basing their contract on the TE market is absurd. The 7th player on the NFL’s “100 Best Players of 2020” list is much more than a TE. It’s the 49ers’ primary target, a YAC machine, bulldozer blocker and team leader, and it generates 1.21 gigawatts of power for San Francisco.
Lynch mentioned earlier this week that now that the economic proposal between the NFL and NFLPA on how to handle the COVID-19 pandemic has been mostly completed, he was more hopeful that the parties could reach an agreement. Lynch noted that it was a “complicated” contract.
That trick is in how each side sees the market.
If the best TE would sit in the 1920s of the WR market, it’s understandable why Kittle would want to be seen more in line with the multifaceted player who is that typecast by position.
Kittle will earn $ 2.13 million in 2020 if the parties cannot close the gap in a new agreement. It is a piddling number compared to its value.
Lynch suggested that even without a new deal, Kittle would appear and remain a great teammate.
Silver, however, suggested that another strategy is at stake, one that could involve threatening to use the opt-out option if a deal doesn’t come soon.
