Tight End · San Francisco 49ers

George Kittle

No. 85 · 10th season

Kittle's road back just got a little longer

He tore his Achilles in January, and yet somehow the conversation around George Kittle this offseason has stayed optimistic — people talking about Week 1, people talking about him being fine. That's the kind of player Kittle is. The doubt never quite sticks.

But bodies have their own timeline. The San Francisco 49ers' general manager confirmed this week that Kittle isn't ready to practice, and he'll start training camp on a list reserved for players who are still physically unable to take the field. That's not a door closing — it's just the calendar being honest.

An Achilles tear is one of the harder things a player can come back from. The list he's on right now means he won't be counting down reps with his teammates in those early camp sessions. How long he's there is the question nobody can answer yet.

Kittle has been the kind of tight end — a position where a player lines up close to the line and is used as both a blocker and a pass-catcher — who seems to find a way. But this one asks something real of him. The optimism is still there. The work, for now, is just happening away from the field.

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