Who Should I Start? George Kittle or Jordan Akins

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.

Saturday, January 4, 9:50 PM

Cleveland Browns tight end Jordan Akins caught six of his eight targets for 60 yards and a touchdown in a 35-10 loss to the Baltimore Ravens in Week 18. Akins caught Bailey Zappe's lone touchdown pass in the contest on a 16-yard reception in the fourth quarter. The veteran tight end turned in a strong showing starting in place of the injured David Njoku (knee) over Cleveland's final two games of the season, catching 12 passes for 109 yards and a touchdown. Akins is an unrestricted free-agent heading into the offseason as he will hope to parlay his strong performance at the end of the season into a new contract somewhere in 2025.