Sources: NFL mulls Kittle fine for anti-Dallas shirt
The NFL is considering fining San Francisco 49ers tight end George Kittle for the T-shirt he wore under his uniform Sunday night that contained a profane message about the Dallas Cowboys, sources told ESPN’s Adam Schefter on Wednesday.
Under the terms of the NFL’s fine schedule, personal messages carry a fine of $10,927.
Kittle, a four-time Pro Bowl selection, revealed a shirt under his jersey that said, “F— Dallas,” while celebrating running back Jordan Mason‘s 26-yard touchdown in the end zone at the end of the 49ers’ 42-10 rout. Kittle also had three receiving touchdowns in the game.
George Kittle’s shirt from Sunday night 👀 @gkittle46 pic.twitter.com/iOUicQwh2P
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) October 9, 2023
In an interview with “The Pat McAfee Show” on Monday, Kittle said he “might have been mildly inspired” by 49ers linebacker Gary Plummer, who wore a similar T-shirt during the 1994 NFC Championship Game against the Cowboys.
“It’s just there’s some things that need to be worn for the franchise, and I think it’s just coincidence that it just happened to appear on my chest on ‘Sunday Night Football,'” he said.
Cowboys linebacker Micah Parsons, on his podcast Monday, called out Kittle for wearing the T-shirt.
“I just feel like he’s making it way more personal than it had to be,” he said on his “The Edge with Micah Parsons” podcast. “Kittle’s my guy, but I’m going to say this: Laugh now, cry later.
“We got something for that, just trust. If we see them again, just trust. … You going to make it personal? We can make it personal.”
One day later, 49ers receiver Deebo Samuel, during an interview with FanDuel’s “Up & Adams” podcast, said that San Francisco took note of some of the Cowboys’ pregame comments before responding to Parsons.
“It was already personal before the game started, and now — 42-10 — I don’t think you want to see us again,” he said Tuesday. “It might be a little bit worse.”
Cowboys safety Jayron Kearse said on Wednesday that he didn’t have a problem with Kittle flashing the T-shirt.
“The only way to stop that is to keep him out of the end zone,” Kearse said. “I don’t have a problem with nothing he did. If we do our job and keep him out of the end zone, he wouldn’t have been able to do it.”
ESPN’s Todd Archer contributed to this report.
