Kyle Juszczyk is leaving the door open for George Kittle to be back for Week 1, and the 49ers fullback says what he saw from the star tight end was enough to make him believe it could happen.
Juszczyk spoke with Matt Maiocco at the American Century Championship golf tournament in South Lake Tahoe, where he talked about the rookies and his appearance at Kittle’s Tight End University. The optimism he had then hasn’t faded.
“I really did feel that way. I was so impressed by the way he was moving, and I was impressed the last week of OTAs, how he was moving.
He was doing this zigzag drill, and he told me he had reached like 16 miles an hour that day. I was already impressed with that.
But then, seeing him go through that warm-up, I was like, ‘Wow, I really do think there is a chance that he’s ready for Week 1.‘”
Kittle had already given a rehab update a couple of weeks ago, saying he was ahead of schedule. The catch is that the timeline for being ahead of schedule was set for mid-November, not Week 1 of the 2026 NFL season in early September.
Still, if Kittle really is moving that well, there’s reason to think the conversation could shift. Hitting 16 miles per hour and looking sharp in drills is a lot different from simply being on a rehab plan.
The 49ers open against the Los Angeles Rams in Melbourne, Australia, in an international Week 1 game, which only raises the stakes for how much they’d love to have Kittle available right away.
For now, mid-November still looks like the date circled for his actual return. But if Kittle keeps looking like this, an earlier comeback than that may not be out of the question.
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