One fan asked us why San Francisco 49ers tight end George Kittle is willing to spread his knowledge and possibly eliminate any competitive advantage he might have over others. After all, Kittle is in the debate for the best tight end in the league. It's a valid question. A lot of these position-specific offseason gatherings are popping up. They usually involve anywhere from a few days to a week of training and information sharing.
Kittle is working with former NFL tight end Greg Olsen and Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce this offseason to launch Tight End University. The event will gather about 50 tight ends from around the NFL in the Nashville, Tennessee, area.
Kittle and Olsen joined the Pardon My Take podcast. The 49ers tight end explained why the sharing of knowledge is so important to him.
"When one tight end succeeds, when we're all succeeding, then everyone gets to benefit off of each other," Kittle shared, "whether that's from guys playing well and getting contracts, so the tight end position gets paid more. I mean, a big part of that is tight ends have been making under $10 million forever, and we just kind of broke through that.
"Like Greg said, we're still getting paid less than a lot of other positions, and I feel like the tight end does a lot. You look at the last 10 Super Bowls, I think every team that's won has had a dominant -- like a very, very talented tight end. It has to do with winning Super Bowls. I think that's the most important thing, so you might as well pay the tight ends. I just kind of want that number to keep going up."
Kittle will be one of the teachers and plans to lead a classroom session on yards after the catch and another on pass protection and run blocking, areas in which the 49ers tight end excels.
"Like I said, when tight ends come together, you can learn," Kittle continued. "What's more important? Like (Falcons rookie) Kyle Pitts, he's going to be really good, but the NFL is faster than college, and if he can sit in a room for two days and learn from guys like Greg Olsen, me, Travis Kelce, Marcedes Lewis, Luke Stocker — I mean, you've got vets in there — you can learn a thing or two. It's just going to take guys' careers, hopefully, on an uphill trajectory."
There is also a charity component to Tight End University. The event is sponsored, and those sponsors are backing it financially, covering the costs to board the tight ends who are in town and providing equipment for the workouts. Any money that is left over from those sponsors is being donated to local and national charities.
Also, from the interview, we learned that Kittle recently got a new tattoo of Godzilla. So, there's that interesting tidbit too.
You can listen to the entire interview with Kittle and Olsen below. It begins at about the 53:50 mark.