Travis Kelce’s contract comes up just short of George Kittle’s

Travis Kelce has the Super Bowl ring, but George Kittle will make more money as the two tight ends sign edmassive contracts

Travis Kelce of the Kansas City Chiefs and the San Francisco 49ers’ George Kittle can’t seem to avoid each other.

A quick look at the NFL rankings over the last two years will show the two of them side-by-side in every significant category among tight ends. Since 2018, they’re first and second in yards (Kelce with 2,565, Kittle with 2,430), nearly 400 more than their nearest competitor, Zach Ertz of the Eagles. Both are behind only Ertz in targets and catches over that span. Last season, Kittle led all tight ends in percentage of team targets at 28.2 percent; Kelce was second at 24.4 percent.

And, of course, they were on the field together in Miami last February as Kelce’s Chiefs defeated Kittle’s 49ers in the Super Bowl, 31-20. On Thursday, just hours apart, they joined each other in another category: money. The 49ers signed Kittle to a five-year, $75 million contract, the largest in NFL history by a tight end. Then, the Chiefs gave a four-year, $57.25 million deal to Kelce.

George Kittle and Travis Kelce just can’t avoid the comparisons

The deals make Kittle and Kelce the two highest-paid tight ends in football. They’ll earn $4 million more than the Chargers’ Hunter Henry in 2020. But Kittle’s deal is worth slightly more than his biggest rival at the position. He’ll make $15 million per season with $40 million guaranteed; Kelce will make $14.3 million per season and $28 million guaranteed.

They’ve both proven they’re worthy of separating themselves from their peers at the position, and fans will continue to debate which one is more deserving of being the higher-paid of the two. When negotiating their deals, Kittle had one main advantage Kelce did not have: He’s only 26 and has been in the NFL for three seasons. Kelce, meanwhile, is already 30 with seven seasons on his resume. Fittingly, given how close they are in everything else, their birthdays in October are only four days apart.

If Kelce is looking for one time he got the better of Kittle, he only has to point to the playoffs last season. In the divisional round, Kelce and the Chiefs fell behind the Houston Texans 24-0 in the first half. Kelce and quarterback Patrick Mahomes then connected on three touchdowns in the span of eight minutes in the second quarter, turning that 24-point deficit into a 28-24 lead by halftime. In the Super Bowl, Kelce caught six passes and a touchdown.

Kittle, uncharacteristically, was subdued in the playoffs, mostly because the 49ers didn’t need him to have a big game. He had eight catches in the entire postseason and no touchdowns. The 49ers attempted only eight passes in the NFC Championship compared to 42 rushing attempts as Kittle was a bystander to running back Raheem Mostert’s historic outburst against the Green Bay Packers.

Kittle never had that postseason moment that Kelce enjoyed, but with the up-and-coming 49ers, who went from 4-12 to 13-3 and the Super Bowl in just one year, he’ll surely get more opportunities. For Kelce, he’ll get to play with the league’s best quarterback, Mahomes, for the majority of his career. They’re already the best quarterback-tight end combo in the NFL and have until 2025 to add to the legacy they’ve started building in Kansas City.