When George Kittle tore his Achilles in January, he was expected to miss the primary two months of the regular season. However the star tight end has attacked his rehab with zeal, putting him ahead of schedule and putting a Week 1 return firmly in play, in keeping with Vic Tafur of The Athletic.
Kittle, 32, has handled injuries in virtually yearly of his profession, but 2025 featured his worst set since an eight-game 2020 campaign that was shortened by an MCL sprain and a foot fracture. The nine-year veteran first tore his hamstring in Week 1, sidelining him for five games, before tearing two ankle ligaments in Week 16 and hurting his Achilles in a wild card loss to the Eagles.
A clean tear offered some early hope that Kittle could speed through his recovery and be back on the sector early within the regular season. But a Week 1 matchup in Australia offers one other wrinkle that would make it harder to play immediately.
“It’s crazy, because we were talking November for his return at first,” 49ers fullback Kyle Juszczyk said recently (via Tafur). “But he has been working really hard, and his speed is way up within the drills that he does, and I feel there’s an actual likelihood he’s back for the opener in Australia.”
Kittle said on the Pardon My Take podcast that he’s running as much as 16 miles per hour with cutting and single-leg box jumps now added to his training. That is great progress just over six months faraway from an Achilles tear, however the 49ers can be well-advised to take a cautious approach. Kittle has a lengthy injury history, a physical play style, and a gut-it-out mentality that makes him hard to get off the sector even when hurt. Last 12 months is a chief example. Despite the torn ligaments in his left ankle, he sat for less than one game before returning to the sector. Later, he admitted that compensating for that injury contributed to the torn Achilles in his right leg. It could be best to let him heal up fully before throwing him full-speed into regular-season motion, especially if he doesn’t have an extended ramp-up period during training camp.