The San Francisco 49ers and Los Angeles Rams will keep the Week 1 action rolling on Thursday night when they square off in the first-ever NFL game played in Australia. The Seattle Seahawks kicked off the new season on Wednesday night with a 13-10 victory over the New England Patriots, but both sides were dealt tough injury blows, losing Sam Darnold and A.J. Brown.
The injury front is also a hot topic heading into the 49ers opener, as tight end George Kittle's status had been up in the air in the days leading up to Week 1 while pushing to make an early-season return from a torn Achilles suffered in January. However, some good news came less than 24 hours prior to kickoff, as ESPN's Adam Schefter revealed that Kittle is off the injury report and
will play.
Breaking: 49ers TE George Kittle is off the injury report and scheduled to return to play tonight in Australia against the Rams, per @AdamSchefter and @RapSheet. pic.twitter.com/v2PDukxtw1
— ESPN (@espn) September 10, 2026
Kittle had been trending in the right direction after being activated from the Physically Unable to Perform (PUP) list and taking part in individual drills last month. In the week or two building up to the matchup with the Rams, the 32-year-old tight end's chances to play were trending up, and he cleared any potential concerns that may have stood in the way of being on the field in Week 1.
This article originally appeared on For The Win: Will George Kittle play tonight for 49ers vs. Rams?
