49ers star thinks team's Super Bowl window could be closing

One star player on the team thinks their window to actually do that might be closing.

Tight end George Kittle addressed that reality this week with David Bonilla of 49ersWebZone, discussing the number of highly paid players the team has and how you can only keep so many players. One star player on the team thinks their window to actually do that might be closing.

Said Kittle:

"I think that's something that our team is very aware of," Kittle shared. "We have a lot of highly-paid players on this team who have earned that money, and you can only pay so many guys. And we know that some of those guys are at the end of their contracts, the end of the guarantees, and that's when things start to move.

 "So yes, we're very aware of that. I don't think it's something that, hey, we have a team meeting, or like, 'Hey, this is it.' But our vet guys, we understand that. It's something we kind of talked about in OTAs. It'll be mentioned throughout training camp. We're aware of that. We know that we have a fantastic team. We need to win games. It's on us. It's on our amazing coaching staff. It's on our amazing players. We have to go out there and win."

The 49ers have some big contracts to deal with over the next couple of years, including Nick Bosa, Javon Kinlaw, Arik Armstead, Charvarius Ward, Dre Greenlaw and Brandon Aiyuk. All of those deals expire either after this season or next season, while Kittle, Deebo Samuel and Christian McCaffrey have contracts that expire after the 2025 season. 

It is simply not realistic to think the 49ers can keep all of those players, or that they will all remain as productive as they currently are. 

That means the pressure is on for the 49ers to capitalize on this core group of players sooner rather than later. Championship windows move fast in sports, especially in the NFL. Once you have to start paying your star players, that salary cap flexibility disappears and it becomes more difficult to plug whatever holes you still have remaining.

The 49ers do have a strong and aggressive front office that could still replenish aging talent, but the 49ers roster right now is probably as good as it is going to get over the next few years. If they are going to win a sixth Super Bowl the time is definitely now. Otherwise, this entire era could slip by and look like a giant missed opportunity.