49ers’ George Kittle discusses retirement, potential WWE career

George Kittle is entering his age-32 season in 2025, but the San Francisco 49ers tight end doesn’t appear to have retirement on his mind any time soon.

Kittle was asked in a Tuesday appearance on “Bussin’ With The Boys” about when he might walk away from the NFL.

“Literally until I don’t have fun anymore,” Kittle replied. “Or if Claire (his wife) looks at me and goes, ‘You kinda look like (expletive) out there, you should retire.’ I’ll be like, ‘All right.'”

Kittle hasn’t reached the latter stage yet. He continues to be one of the NFL’s top tight ends and is coming off a season during which he posted 78 catches, 1,106 yards and eight touchdowns across 15 games. He made his fourth consecutive Pro Bowl and was named to the All-Pro second team for the third time in his career.

As such, Kittle believes he still has at least a few years left in the tank – provided he can remain healthy.

“I think if I get to like I’m 35 and it hurts just to put pants on in the morning, I think I’ll be like, ‘Ah, this isn’t that much fun anymore,’ and I’ll have a conversation with myself,” Kittle explained. “But I’m feeling great right now.”

While Kittle is happy to be playing in the NFL and “hasn’t daydreamed” about retirement, he is excited about the potential opportunities he might have when he does call it quits. He believes he could eventually “talk football” somewhere and also noted he is hoping to be an extra in Henry Cavill’s upcoming TV series based on the “Warhammer” games.

However, there is one opportunity he is hoping to pursue above all else.

“I would love to do WWE,” Kittle said. “I think there’s definitely opportunity within that world, and I would love nothing more than to be a part of it.”

Kittle, a long-time wrestling fan, has appeared in WWE programming before. Most notably, he was at WrestleMania 39 in 2023, where he came out of the crowd clad in a “TEU” tank top and helped Pat McAfee defeat The Miz.

That said, Kittle acknowledged any future effort he makes to join WWE full-time would take a lot more practice than his guest spots in the past.

“I would only do WWE if I bought a ring and practiced my ass off for a while so I wouldn’t look like an idiot out there,” Kittle explained. “I’ve been in a WWE ring like three times. I don’t know what I’m doing out there. I have an understanding of how it works, but I haven’t moonsaulted off the top rope at WrestleMania like Pat McAfee did.”

The 49ers will be hoping Kittle’s WWE training won’t begin for another handful of years. San Francisco signed Kittle to a four-year contract extension in April that will tether him to the organization through his age-36 season in 2029.