Kyle Juszczyk gets paid like a fullback. He plays like a tight end. And nobody, including Juszczyk himself, seems totally sure which one he actually is anymore.
“Am I a tight end? Am I not a tight end? I don’t know. That’s a great question,” Juszczyk said this week at the 2026 American Century Championship in an interview with NBC Sports Bay Area’s Matt Maiocco. “Unfortunately, I think I’m a tight end and not a tight end at all the wrong times. I’m a fullback when it comes to contract negotiations, which hurts, but then I’m a tight end on game day.”
It’s not a throwaway line. It’s the entire tension of his career, laid out in one breath.
A Fullback Who Rarely Plays Fullback
San Francisco’s offense under Kyle Shanahan doesn’t ask Juszczyk to just lead-block from the backfield anymore. It moves him everywhere. In 2025, he lined up in the backfield on 169 snaps, inline as a tight end on 190, in the slot on 159, out wide 55 times, and even took one snap at quarterback, according to PFF.
That’s not a fullback’s usage chart. That’s a Swiss Army knife.
“You’ve watched me play for a long time. I play everywhere. I play in that tight end position a lot,” Juszczyk said.
The 13-year veteran got a taste of life among the tight ends this offseason when George Kittle, Travis Kelce and longtime NFL tight end-turned-broadcaster Greg Olsen invited him to Tight End University. Kelce, Juszczyk said, specifically asked him to teach a session on playing fullback, since so many modern tight ends are now asked to line up in the backfield themselves — the exact reverse of Juszczyk’s own path.
“Tight End U, it was really cool to get to go there and to get to see the other tight ends around the league,” Juszczyk said. “Travis asked me to teach a class on playing fullback because so many of these tight ends now are asked to play in the backfield. So, I had a really good time doing that.”
The Pay Gap Is Real — and It’s Not Close
Here’s where the joke stops being funny. Fullback, as a listed position, pays a fraction of what tight end does — even for players doing nearly identical jobs on Sundays.
Juszczyk is tied for second among fullbacks in total contract value at $7.5 million and average annual salary at $3.75 million. Patrick Ricard, who signed with the New York Giants as a free agent in March 2026 after nine seasons with the Baltimore Ravens, tops the position at $7.63 million total and $3.815 million per year, making him the NFL’s highest-paid fullback, according to Heavy.com.
Now look at the tight end market. George Kittle, Juszczyk’s own teammate, tops that position group with a $76.4 million deal averaging $19.1 million per season — more than five times what any fullback in the league makes annually. Even 49ers depth tight ends Jake Tonges and Luke Farrell out-earn Juszczyk on a per-year basis, each pulling in an even $4 million.
| Player | Position | Avg. Annual Salary |
|---|---|---|
| George Kittle | Tight End | $19.1 million |
| Jake Tonges | Tight End | $4 million |
| Luke Farrell | Tight End | $4 million |
| Patrick Ricard | Fullback | $3.815 million |
| Kyle Juszczyk | Fullback | $3.75 million |
That gap exists because of how teams build and value rosters, not because of what Juszczyk does on the field. A tight end who catches passes and blocks in-line gets priced against the tight end market. A player carrying the fullback label, no matter how many snaps he takes at tight end, gets priced against a shrinking, undervalued position that’s nearly extinct in modern offenses.
What’s Next for Juszczyk
Juszczyk, who began his career with four seasons in Baltimore before signing with San Francisco in 2017, is entering the final year of his current deal and his 10th season with the 49ers. He signed that contract in 2025 after briefly being released by San Francisco in a cap-clearing move, before the two sides reworked a deal.
He’s a 10-time Pro Bowler and two-time All-Pro at 35 years old — production and accolades that would command a much bigger check almost anywhere else on the roster. Whether the 49ers view him as a fullback or, in practice, one of their most versatile offensive weapons will likely shape how his next contract gets negotiated once this one runs out.
If his own words this week are any indication, Juszczyk already knows how that conversation tends to go.
