The San Francisco 49ers dominated the Los Angeles Chargers at SoFi Stadium on Thursday, taking out the home team with an assertive 41-17 victory, including a 20-3 edge in the first half. But right as the game was about to kick off, ESPN's Adam Schefter dropped a bombshell report on 49ers star tight end George Kittle, who missed Thursday's game while recovering from a torn Achilles suffered in the wild-card round of the playoffs last season. Schefter reported that Kittle visited Dr.
Neal ElAttrache, the doctor who performed surgery on his torn Achilles, in Los Angeles on Wednesday. After meeting with the renowned surgeon, it appears Kittle is trending toward playing Week 1 against the Los Angeles Rams. The 49ers haven't said exactly when he'll return or whether he'll be ready for the season opener, but Schefter said the visit was "encouraging" and that Kittle's recovery is "ahead of schedule," giving him a very real chance of being ready to go when the season kicks off three weeks from now.
The 49ers face the Rams in Melbourne, Australia, on Thursday, Sept. 10, which would be right around eight months after Kittle suffered the injury. More news: Raiders QB Fernando Mendoza Reflects on Rough Preseason Start vs Texans In other recent cases, torn Achilles injuries have typically taken between 9-12 months to fully heal before a player can return to live NFL action. At this point in the recovery process, players are generally only just starting to participate in non-contact drills and ramp up explosive movements.
Kittle has not yet returned to practice, so there are still some obvious hurdles he would need to clear before being able to suit up in Week 1. But Schefter's report suggests he could be making his return soon, which would give him between two and three weeks to ramp up to full speed if he wants to play in the season opener. More news: Jerry Jones Plans to Make Cowboys Players Pay for $500,000 NFL Fine More news: Surprising 49ers Cut Candidate Emerges Ahead of Roster Deadline With Kittle still on the Physically Unable to Perform (PUP) list, the 49ers will want to get him back to practice soon, at the very least so they can take him off the PUP before the deadline on Aug. 30.
After that, Kittle would need to be moved to the Reserve PUP list, which would force him to miss at least the first four games of the regular season.
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