San Francisco 49ers tight end George Kittle sounded optimistic when asked about expectations for returning next season after an Achilles injury suffered on January 11:
Surgery went really really good. I’m incredibly happy with it. A little background into it. He said best case scenrio, when you tear an Achilles, is that you tear it up high by your soleus, which is what I did. It was a clean tear, so they didn’t have to drill into my heel.
And where the repair was is where there’s more blood flow. So,
it takes some time off your recovery time. So, he’s very excited about everything. My recovery, when I’ll be running, when I’ll be able to play again. He’s very excited about it. That puts me in a really good mood. It’s not as bad as other ones, so, just excited about that.
Kittle’s surgery was last week, performed by Dr. Neal ElAttrache. Kittle didn’t get into specifics about when he’d return, but sounded sure that he’d be playing in the first half of the season in 2026.
Kittle also confirmed that the tequila story was true and that he “had a great time” in the locker room during the Wild Card round after the injury.
Finally, Kittle shared why he has so much respect for this team:
Kyle said it best. It sucks at the end of the year for everybody who doesn’t win. It sucks for everybody, regardless of the ending. What’s cool about this team, and I think a lot of other teams might say, ‘Oh, we have a gritty team, we won’t blink, we don’t do this.’
The amount of guys who played this year, all over the ball, whether it was offense, defense, special teams, whoever it was. The guys that game in and took advantage of their opportunities and played at a high level, that is playing gritty. That’s playing without blinking. Just show up, do your job. You don’t even know what your job is and you’re still doing it.
I just have so much respect for this team and the grind that they went through. Especially when you’re missing so many vocal leaders and so many key players. Guys just stepped up and made plays constantly.
Roster turnover year over year is inevitable. The 49ers shouldn’t have nearly as much as they did a year ago. Some of their biggest offseason moves will be getting players like Kittle back from injury.
