Why 49ers TE George Kittle Doesn’t Support an 18-Game NFL Season

These two reasons explain everything.

Jan 11, 2026; Philadelphia, PA, USA; San Francisco 49ers tight end George Kittle (85) looks on during warmups prior to an NFC Wild Card Round game against the Philadelphia Eagles at Lincoln Financial Field. Mandatory Credit: Eric Hartline-Imagn Images | Eric Hartline-Imagn Images

Sooner or later, the NFL and the San Francisco 49ers will be forced to play an 18-game regular season.

The idea of expanding the NFL season to 18 games is far from ideal. The league has already increased the regular season to 17 games, and another addition would further raise the workload on players in an already intense and grueling schedule.

The possibility of an 18-game season is something that doesn’t appeal to tight end George Kittle, who is known for taking his fitness regime extremely seriously.

"The one thing that didn't really make sense to me is you signed a contract to play 16 games," Kittle explained on Front Office Sports News.

"They added the 17th game, and you don't get paid any more money. Your paycheck just gets cut an extra time. So you're making 17 paychecks instead of 16.

"So, in my opinion, if you just bumped up the payment a little bit for that last game instead of just cutting it again, I think guys would be more interested in that as well.

"But, for me, it's like, you can't keep doing this because the game's hard enough as it is. If you look back to last year, the amount of players who were hurt, it was actually insane. Let's take care of the guys a little bit here."

Jan 3, 2026; Santa Clara, California, USA; San Francisco 49ers tight end George Kittle (85) takes the field before the game at Levi's Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Neville E. Guard-Imagn Images | Neville E. Guard-Imagn Images

The financial side is one valid argument, but the risk of increased injuries is another extremely important factor. Player welfare appears to be declining year on year, with rising injury numbers, including last season, where the 49ers have been heavily impacted by injuries all year long.

The 49ers face a challenging 2026 schedule, which includes two international games. Kittle, who is also coming off a difficult injury of his own, speaking out about a potential expansion of the regular season is therefore significant.

If an 18-game regular season came along with additional international fixtures added, appropriate player protection measures would need to be put in place.

Kittle also suggested that expanding the NFL schedule across multiple days each week could risk fan burnout.

"Playing on the holidays is really fun, but when you have a game on a Wednesday, a Thursday, a Friday, a Saturday, and a Sunday—football was always fun to me growing up because you'd have to wait until Sunday, and then you'd get Monday night, which was a blessing," Kittle added.

"And then they added Thursday Night Football, which is fun, and as a vet, I thoroughly enjoy Thursday Night Football.

"But now, you get games on Black Friday, now you get games on Saturdays, and it's just like, I don't know, I don't want to overdo football to people. I think making it special means a lot."