George Kittle injury update: 49ers star gets estimated return date from Kyle Shanahan originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
The San Francisco 49ers placed tight end George Kittle on injured reserve after Week 1 due to a hamstring injury and we haven’t seen him since.
Because the minimum-required stay for IR stints is four weeks, Kittle is eligible to return for the Week 6 game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
However, according to head coach Kyle Shanahan, that is not going to happen. While that’s unfortunate, Shanahan did provide an estimated return date for the veteran tight end.
Here’s what he said.
Shanahan revealed on Wednesday that Kittle has a chance to return for the Week 7 game against the Atlanta Falcons.
“Kyle Shanahan says there’s a chance George Kittle is back next week vs Atlanta,” David Lombardi of The San Francisco Standard reported.
Being that he’s on injured reserve, Kittle has to be designated to return first. When that happens, you know he’s close to getting back on the field. San Francisco did not take that step on Wednesday, though.
From that point, the Niners have 21 days to activate him to the 53-man roster or else he has to go back on IR and miss the rest of the season.
Kittle’s return will be huge.
Not only is he extremely important to the offense, the Niners are also dealing with injuries at wide receiver. Jauan Jennings and Ricky Pearsall both missed the game against the Los Angeles Rams in Week 5 and Jennings has missed multiple games this season.
Neither Jennings nor Pearsall practiced on Wednesday, so the concern over their statuses remains.
