‘Kyle Tried, John Tried’: George Kittle Defends 49ers Leadership Amid Aiyuk Drama
As Brandon Aiyuk remains sidelined, George Kittle breaks his silence to support San Francisco's front office, detailing the exhaustive efforts made to bridge a fractured, high-stakes relationship.
Video Transcript
San Francisco 49ers All-Pro tight end George Kittle pulled back the curtain on the team's protracted feud with exiled wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk.
He made a recent appearance on the Chris Simms Unbuttoned podcast and said, "I feel like I know basically everything that's happened and what's going on, and I can't share all of that because it's not my business to share or tell.
But I feel like the Niners have done a very good job throughout the entire process and have tried.
Kyle has tried, John has tried, teammates have tried, and this is where we are."
The operational breakdown, as we know, between Aiyuk and the organization originated with the receiver's ACL and MCL tear suffered in October 2024.
Addressing the difficulty of business in the NFL, Kittle offered a piece of veteran wisdom.
"Contract negotiations are always hard for everybody, and you just try your best not to be sensitive about it," Kittle explained.
"Richard Sherman gave me advice back in the day when I was going through my first contract negotiation.
It was, 'Contracts are like braces.
They hurt and they suck the entire time, but you like the result at the end.'"
Without directly naming Aiyuk, Kittle used his own decade-long tenure in Santa Clara as a counter-narrative to claims that the 49ers' leadership operates in bad faith, saying, "I don't ever want to single a player out.
I don't ever want to point a finger at anybody, but I've been here for 10 years, and I've been treated with nothing but respect and love my entire career.
I feel like I've done it the right way for as long as I can."
Kittle's remarks provide a clear indicator that while the locker room has moved on to this upcoming season, the leadership believes the front office e-exhausted every reasonable avenue before reaching the impasse they're currently at
