George Kittle has been one of the best tight ends in the league for close to a decade now with the San Francisco 49ers. Now at 31 years old, though, Kittle is entering the final year of his deal with the 49ers and is looking to remain with the team beyond just the 2025 season. The issue is that the team doesn’t appear to busy to get a deal done in the first place.

And that’s a major mistake according to Grant Cohn of 49ers on SI. “As soon as the 49ers’ season ended, Kittle said on the record that he would love to sign an extension and finish his career in Santa Clara,” Cohn said. “They could have given him a contract extension worth $18 million per season, and that would have made him the highest-paid tight end in the NFL.

Related: 49ers And QB Purdy Are Doomed To Get Worse Per Dan Patrick “But they waited. Like they always do. And now, the market has changed because the Arizona Cardinals just gave tight end Trey McBride a four-year extension worth $19 million per season. Which means Kittle’s price tag just jumped to $20 million per season at minimum.”

The McBride deal certainly adds a new wrinkle to San Francisco’s difficult cap situation. The 49ers do have plenty of space this offseason with over $38 million still to work with. But with Brock Purdy needing an extension, it’s not hard to see where the team is focusing.

But that doesn’t mean waiting to get Kittle’s new deal done. And in that regard, it appears the organization has already waited too long.