Who Should I Start? George Kittle or Drew Sample

Tuesday, April 29, 1:03 PM

Six-time Pro Bowl tight end George Kittle signed a four-year, $76.4 million contract extension with the San Francisco 49ers on Tuesday that includes $40 million guaranteed, according to ESPN's Adam Schefter. Now that the two sides were able to work out a contract extension, Kittle should show up for the team's voluntary offseason program, while the Niners can now turn their full attention to getting an extension done with quarterback Brock Purdy. Despite being on the wrong side of 30 -- he'll turn 32 in October, Kittle finished as the TE2 in half-PPR scoring last year, behind only Las Vegas Raiders rookie Brock Bowers. He finished 2024 with 78 catches on 94 targets for 1,106 yards and eight touchdowns in only 15 games played. Kittle is a high-end fantasy tight end, but he's also injury-prone and relies more on efficiency than volume, as he hasn't had triple-digit targets since 2019.

Sunday, January 5, 7:40 AM

Cincinnati Bengals tight end Drew Sample caught all four of his targets for 14 yards on Saturday in his team's 19-17 victory against the Pittsburgh Steelers. Though the yardage total wasn't anything to write home about, the veteran tight end tied a season high in catches. More importantly, Cincinnati's offense did just enough to earn a fifth straight victory that kept its playoff hopes alive for another day. Whether Sample and the Bengals get a shot in the Wild Card round will come down to Week 18, when Cincy needs both Denver and Miami to lose.