Kyle Juszczyk reveals he was 'hurt' by 49ers pay cut request

As fullbacks have been mostly phased out of NFL offenses, the San Francisco 49ers have had Kyle Juszczyk for quite a bit and he's a key piece of their offense. He's also been a Pro Bowler in all seven of his seasons as a 49er to this point, and eight times overall going back to his last season with the Baltimore Ravens.

With his widely-regarded status as the best fullback in the NFL, the 49ers rewarded Juszczyk with a five-year, $27 million contract extension in 2019. This offseason, he agreed to a contract restructure that saved the 49ers nearly $4 million in salary cap space for this year as they eyed getting some other contracts done.

The restructure lowered Juszczyk's base salaries for this year and next, essentially making it a new two-year, $9.1 million deal with some new guaranteed money this year.

Rather than take the path defensive lineman Arik Armstead did, declining a restructure and ending up elsewhere after being cut, Juszczyk wanted to remain a 49er.

Kyle Juszczyk was hurt by request to take a pay cut

While speaking with Matt Maiocco of NBC Sports Bay Area at the American Century Classic, Juszczyk talked about the process of agreeing to take a pay cut and how he felt about it when general manager John Lynch broached the subject.

"Honestly, it hurt when John came to me and asked," Juszczyk said."I wasn't necessarily expecting it. It kind of hurts your ego and hurts your heart a little bit...

"There definitely was a process that we had to go through and I had to come to terms with it. At the end of the day, though, I really, truly wanted to be a Niner. This is where I wanted to be. I absolutely love it here."

To be fair, Juszczyk remains the highest-paid fullback in the NFL at $4.55 million per year. He said that was important to him in the talks about a pay cut.

"Quite honestly, that was important to me,” said Juszczyk. “That was something that went into negotiations: ‘All right, we can figure this out and take a cut, but I still need to be the highest paid. No knocks on other fullbacks in the league, but I'm the best fullback in the league."

This past season, Juszczyk caught 14-of-17 targets for 119 yards and two touchdowns in 17 games played. For the first time, Juszczyk was named a First-team All-Pro for the very first time of his career. Not to mention, Juszczyk made it to the Pro Bowl for the eighth-consecutive season.

Juszczyk, 33, acknowledged how the pay cut opened his eyes to the idea that how long he plays isn't "100 percent up to me", but after he got over the emotions attached to being asked to take a pay cut he's in a good place as the 49ers try to get over the hump and win a Super Bowl for the first time since 1994.