Kyle Juszczyk is not ready to call George Kittle’s return to full football work a sure thing, but he is clearly seeing enough to believe Week 1 is in play.
That optimism came after Juszczyk watched Kittle go through change-of-direction work and warm-up drills at Tight End University, where the 49ers fullback said the All-Pro tight end looked far ahead of where many would expect him to be in his Achilles recovery. The conversation happened with NBC Sports Bay Area’s Matt Maiocco at the American Century Championship golf tournament in South Lake Tahoe, where Juszczyk also discussed the 49ers’ incoming draft class before turning to Kittle.
“I really did feel that way," Juszczyk shared regarding the tight end's accelerated recovery trajectory. "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 said a couple of weeks ago that his medical markers were moving ahead of schedule. Even so, the original target he was working from pointed to a mid-November return to football activities, so getting him ready for the opener would be a major jump.
That matters because the 49ers open the 2026 regular season on Thursday, September 10 against the Los Angeles Rams at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in Australia. It’s a Week 1 stage that raises the stakes even more, and one where San Francisco would love to have its top run blocker and middle-of-the-field option available.
The caution is obvious, though. A mid-November timeline exists for a reason, and the 49ers have to balance the upside of getting Kittle back early against the risk of bringing an explosive 32-year-old player back too soon and inviting a setback.
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