School may be out for the summer, but class is in session for tight ends across the league.
Tight End University is returning for another season and while the goal is to improve on the field, George Kittle also has something else in mind for the 80 to 90 players in attendance. The San Francisco 49ers All-Pro and Tight End University co-founder wants to make sure his colleagues get paid.
Kittle, who signed a four-year, $76.4 million extension this offseason, spoke about the event during an appearance on “The Dan Patrick Show” on Monday.
“The only way for the tight end market to continue to grow is if everybody’s getting paid,” Kittle said. “That’s the only way to do it. You can’t just have one guy do it and then it just sits for three or four years because then you’re stuck and it’s stagnant and no one’s getting paid.”
Competition is the name of the game, but Kittle is rooting for tight ends to be successful when they aren’t playing the 49ers – because it helps drive up the price of future contracts.
“We want everybody, I want everybody to have great seasons,” Kittle said. “I want everybody to have great games, just not against the 49ers. But throughout the rest of the season, they can play as well as they want to because I want guys to get paid, to keep bumping up that market so by the time that Brock Bowers is doing his contract in three years, he’s going for over $20 million, which he will. That’s just the whole point. When Tight End U first started, I think the top of the market was $15 [million] and now it’s $20 [million].”
The requirements for enrollment are fairly lenient. Kittle said as long as he has an email address or can get a hold of them, all active players are invited.
“If you’re on an NFL roster or were in the last year, you’re invited,” Kittle said. “I talk about run blocking, pass protection, YAC. Those are things I focus on. Travis [Kelce] talks about his route tree, how he reads his coverages, Greg Olsen talks about his routes. Jordan Reed has spoken about his releases. This year Evan Engram is going to talk.”
Kittle expressed that they try to cover a lot in their limited time together, focusing on skills related to the game in addition to things that happen off the field, such as financial advising and investing.
“We try to talk about all the things a tight end does because we’re the only position that gets to do everything: Pass pro, run blocking, catching the football, scoring touchdowns, running the ball sometimes, so we kind of try to cover as much as we can in the limited time we have with these guys and just try to give them a step forward in their careers to help them make a team in the upcoming camp,” Kittle said.
Founded in 2021 by Kittle, Kelce and Olsen, Tight End University is a three-day program that takes place in Nashville before training camp.
It’s an event that continues to grow in popularity and seems to be paying off at the negotiating table. The Arizona Cardinals awarded Trey McBride a four-year, $76 million extension, which made him the highest-paid tight end in league history at the time.
Of course, Kittle eventually surpassed that, but the arrow is pointing up for the position.
Perhaps that degree is worth a bump in salary.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Tight End University: George Kittle hopes event gets TEs paid