The San Francisco 49ers and George Kittle want to get a contract extension done, but it could still take a while before the two sides reach an agreement.

Kittle is one of the best players in the NFL and wants to be paid like that, not just like a top tight end. The market for a top talent receiver in the NFL is $22 million per year. Austin Hooper is currently the top-paid tight end in the NFL at $10.5 million.

There is no doubt Kittle will become the highest-paid tight end, but how much bigger of a contract will he get than Hooper is the biggest question.

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According to Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated, it could be weeks or months before a long term deal happens between Kittle and the 49ers:

I’d heard a few weeks ago that this one was going to very tricky, and my buddy Mike Silver, over at NFL Network, echoed that sentiment this week in reporting how far the sides are apart. When I asked Kittle himself about it a couple weeks ago, he just said, I’m not gonna talk contract stuff. … I’m gonna avoid all those questions,” and deferred to his agent. So as I see it, it’ll probably take a while to hash this one out, and that’s really no one’s fault. It’s just the oddity of the way an increasingly important position has been compensated, which may be best illustrated by the fact that the market has barely moved at all from the $9 million per year that Rob Gronkowski got on a six-year extension back in 2012.

Last season, Kittle caught 85 passes for 1.053 yards and five touchdowns. That puts him 23rd in the NFL in terms of receiving yards, ahead of players like Odell Beckham Jr. and Davante Adams.