Wide receiver Deebo Samuel’s desire for a new contract continues to be an issue for the 49ers with training camp approaching, but another key member of the offense doesn’t think it is going to linger that much longer.
Tight end George Kittle said on the Bussin’ with the Boys podcast that he thinks the 49ers should have negotiated a new contract with the 49ers earlier, although that would have been difficult with the wideout being ineligible for a new deal until this offseason and it’s moot now that the two sides have failed to come to an agreement. That led to Samuel asking for a trade, but Kittle thinks “that window is kind of closed” because the 49ers can’t get anything to help them this year if a trade is for draft picks.
That has Kittle thinking that an extension will be the end result and he noted how things played out for him and linebacker Fred Warner when making a prediction about when a deal could get done.
“Something crazy could happen, I could be eating my words in two weeks, but the Niners have done every major contract — mine, Fred Warner’s — the week before the season started. So, my guess is in three weeks we’ll hear news of it, but I have no idea,” Kittle said, via 95.7 The Game.
Kittle and Warner actually got their deals done well ahead of the first week of the regular season and Warner’s came in late July last year. A similar timeline for Samuel would leave Jimmy Garoppolo’s status as the only major dangling thread from the team’s offseason.
