San Francisco 49ers tight end George Kittle tore his Achilles on Jan. 11, which, on a normal timeline, would put his return in the middle of the 2026 campaign. Kittle plans to be ahead of schedule.
At the Niners locker room Monday, Kittle told reporters he plans to return “well before November,” noting that the tear is a “best-case scenario.”
“The operation went very, very well,” Kittle said, via ESPN. “[Dr. Neal ElAttrache] Said best case scenario when you tear your Achilles is you tear it high off your soleus, which is what I did. I had pure tears. They didn’t have to drill into my heel. And where the repair was there is more blood flow. And then it takes a little time off from the recovery period… It’s not as bad as others.”
Kittle suffered a torn Achilles in the Niners’ Wild Card win over the Philadelphia Eagles. The star said he knew immediately that he had shot Achilles.
“I knew exactly when it happened, it felt like someone put a shotgun up to my calf and pulled the trigger,” Kittle said. “The second it happened I knew exactly what it was… Unfortunate, but football is difficult sometimes.”
The 49ers will have several injuries to watch this offseason, from Kittle to Fred Warner’s rehab from a broken right ankle, to Nick Bosa (ACL), to Brock Purdy’s big right toe. Then there are the questions surrounding the resolution of Brandon Aiyuk’s future, whether or not the Niners could trade Mac Jones to a QB-needy roster, and the bleak future for players like key players like Jauan Jennings.
Given the injury-riddled year the Niners once again experienced, the prospect of getting Kittle back for the first half of the 2026 season would be a godsend for Kyle Shanahan, as San Francisco looks to return to the postseason for the sixth time in eight seasons.