Niners tackle Colton McKivitz runs onto the field during player introductions before a game against the Carolina Panthers at Levi’s Stadium on Nov. 24.
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Niners tackle Colton McKivitz hugs Browns defensive end Myles Garrett after a game in Cleveland on Nov. 30. Garrett,who set the NFL record with 23 sacks last season but had just one in San Francisco’s 26-8 win, was traded to the Los Angeles Rams on Monday.
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Niners tackle Colton McKivitz gets set during a game against the Los Angeles Rams at Levi’s Stadium on Nov. 9.
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Niners tackle Colton McKivitz passed up free agency before last season, then broke out as one of the NFL’s top players at his position. Despite being underpaid now, he says he doesn’t regret his decision.
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Right tackle Colton McKivitz has embraced the 49ers and the Bay Area, citing it as the main reason he passed up potentially millions more in free agency.
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Right tackle Colton McKivitz was a fifth-round pick in 2020 out of West Virginia who has started every game for the past three seasons.
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Niners running back Christian McCaffrey, left, and tackle Colton McKivitz celebrate McCaffrey’s touchdown during a game against the Chicago Bears at Levi’s Stadium on Dec. 28.
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Last week, Colton McKivitz offered a variation of a familiar phrase used by professional athletes — it’s not about the money — and the appropriate reaction is almost always this: baloney.
However, the San Francisco 49ers right tackle makes a convincing case that those millions he missed out on in March haven’t caused him to lose a second of sleep.
“There’s a lot more than the (amount) of money that a contract gives you that’s available in this town, in the city,” McKivitz said. “That’s more important to me than a dollar amount.”
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Why does seemingly standard bull sound believable when it comes from McKivitz? The answer is interesting. Let’s start by reviewing last year’s financial decision that, in some ways, backfired.
On Sept. 6, McKivitz signed a three-year, $45 million contract with $27 million guaranteed. The timing was telling: McKivitz, 29, then entering his third season as a starter and the final year of his contract, signed the day before the start of the 17-game regular season. He took the money and removed the possibility that a serious injury, or subpar season, could tank his market value before he reached free agency in March.
His choice was understandable. He was a 2020 fifth-round pick who had yet to receive a big payday before his extension. The tradeoff was that he forfeited a shot to reach the open market. And offensive tackles, a premium position in the NFL, get big free-agent contracts. Even backups. Consider: Six months before McKivitz signed his deal, Jaylon Moore, the 49ers’ second-string tackle who had 12 starts in his four-season career, inked a deal with the Chiefs with the same $15 million average annual value: two years, $30 million, $21.24 million guaranteed.
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As it turns out, McKivitz’s early decision, from a financial perspective, was an error. He started all 19 games last season, including playoff contests, and had a career-best campaign. His overall Pro Football Focus grade ranked seventh among 89 qualifying tackles, and he’s now obviously underpaid; McKivitz’s average annual salary ranks 28th among players at his position.
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To be clear, McKivitz is not stressing about the rising price of coffee. He’s doing just fine financially. But who among us wouldn’t want to collect another $15 million or so that we’ve earned based on our stellar performance in a highly hazardous job? McKivitz was asked whether he had regrets.
“My goal never was to be the highest paid,” McKivitz said. “I mean, obviously, money is — you’re in the NFL. I want to get paid. I want to have generational wealth. I want to have my grandkids have money, too. But with the contract I was offered and, honestly: I don’t want to leave here.”
The last six words say a lot. McKivitz, more so than most employees, adores his employer.
In 2020, before the 49ers drafted him, they labeled McKivitz a “gold-helmet” prospect, a rare distinction given to players with stellar character, work ethic and leadership ability. That is, they saw McKivitz’s best qualities and valued them. And McKivitz now feels the same way about the 49ers.
His desire to stay in Santa Clara has intensified after talking to ex-teammates who have signed elsewhere. Among them is Falcons’ blocking tight end Charlie Woerner, the best man at McKivitz’s wedding who secured a nice contract in 2024 from Atlanta — three years, $12 million — after he had 11 catches in four seasons with the 49ers.
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Woerner got more green than the 49ers were willing to offer, and yet …
“The grass isn’t always greener on the other side,” McKivitz said.
“Even (Woerner) still talks about it. You have a core group of players who understand the standard of what this franchise is built on,” he added. “You want to uphold that standard, and everyone knows that winning is the ultimate goal. Here, you have that buy-in from veteran players, the front office, and then the coaching staff, as well. And the whole goal is winning. It’s hard for guys to turn that away. And when they do go away and it’s not the same? That’s what makes this place special.”
The 49ers’ commitment to winning isn’t unique. But McKivitz is getting at a culture that, he says, doesn’t have non-football “fluff” that he’s heard are “distractions” in other places.
McKivitz acknowledged his point of reference is limited, but the larger point is that he’s a true believer. Among his career goals: Seeing his name on the franchise’s “10-year wall” for a decade of service.
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McKivitz hasn’t just embraced the organization, he has fallen for the Bay Area. A native of small-town, blue-collar Ohio, he’s an avid hunter and fisherman whose favorite color might be camouflage. He spent part of the 49ers’ bye week in December hunting at a duck club, which is on brand. But he did so in Napa, and he discussed wine tastings with reporters when he returned.
Last year, he began regularly training in San Francisco during the offseason by running the city’s steep hills, and he now speaks like a local who grew up watching the 49ers play at Kezar Stadium.
“I love training in the city,” McKivitz said. “Right off Front Street, (to) Vallejo, (to) Kearny, all going to Coit Tower and running the brick staircases over there. It’s cool to train and have a city-behind-you feeling.”
McKivitz figures to maintain his routine until at least 2028, which would be his ninth season with the 49ers and the final year of his contract. Of course, he hopes to continue beyond that to land on the 10-year wall. Would he take less money to stay with the 49ers and realize his goal? He’d probably say so. And we could believe him.