SANTA CLARA, Cali. (AP) — The San Francisco 49ers started their final set of practices before leaving to play the season opener in Australia with defensive end Nick Bosa still sidelined and tight end George Kittle ramping up to play.
Coach Kyle Shanahan said before the team took the field Monday for the first of three practices before the team leaves the country that the plan was for both Kittle and Bosa to get on the field for team drills this week
to prepare for the opener against the Los Angeles Rams on Sept. 11.
But Bosa wasn't on the field at all for the open portion of practice, while Kittle was participating in the non-added practice.
Bosa is coming back from a torn ACL suffered in Week 3 last season. He began camp on the active roster doing individual drills but was shut down in early August after dealing with soreness in his surgically repaired right knee. The team then took it easy with him and now is ready to push him toward the opener.
“The intention when he came back was that he was right,” general manager John Lynch said. “When he upped the activity, he got sore. So he backed off. We put together a really good plan that we believe will have them ready for Australia. I always believe that the athlete knows their body better than anyone, and Nick certainly takes that to the nth degree. He knows his body extremely well and knows what it takes to have him ready.”
Bosa has had at least nine sacks in the five seasons when he didn’t get hurt in the opening month as he has been one of the most productive edge rushers ever since being drafted second overall in 2019.
Bosa has made the Pro Bowl in all five of his healthy seasons and won the AP NFL Defensive Player of the Year award in 2022, when he led the league with 18 1/2 sacks.
Kittle ruptured his Achilles tendon on Jan. 11 in a playoff win at Philadelphia and has made an impressive recovery to get back on the field in less than eight months. He came off the physically unable to perform list on Aug. 23 but only did individual drills last week.
Shanahan said the three practices this week will go a long way toward determining the status of both Bosa and Kittle for the opener. The Niners leave on Wednesday night and will arrive in Melbourne on Friday. They will hold a light workout Saturday before taking a day off. They will then hold their normal three practices for a game week before playing the opener.
Shanahan said that the team could decide to keep Kittle at home if it's determined by Wednesday that he can't play in the opener but the hope is that he will be ready Week 1.
“Hopefully these three days that we have, these three practices, will go the right way and make it an easy decision to get him on the plane,” he said.
Kittle is a two-time All-Pro and seven-time Pro Bowler who is a key part of San Francisco’s offense as a passing threat and a blocker in the run game. He had 57 catches for 628 yards receiving and seven touchdowns last season.
The opener against the Rams will have an additional challenge after the Rams brought Aaron Donald out of retirement to join Myles Garrett on one of the fiercest defensive lines in the game.
Donald is a three-time AP Defensive Player of the Year but was out of football the past two seasons. His 12 1/2 career sacks against the 49ers in the regular season and playoffs are tied with Kevin Greene for the most ever.
“They got better, certainly, with him deciding to come out of retirement,” Lynch said. “Now, there’s time away. But I know that guy trains like a madman. I ran into him in a hotel somewhere a while back and we had some fun chatter back and forth. Never thought he’d do it. But he's doing it and so we better get ready for it.”
San Francisco placed two more players on injured reserve Monday who had made the initial 53-man roster. Linebacker Nick Martin (hamstring) and cornerback Nate Hobbs (groin) went on IR and will miss at least the first four games of the season.
Teams can bring eight players back from IR in the regular season after missing four games. The 49ers already used two of those spots on receiver Christian Kirk (calf) and offensive lineman Austen Pleasants.
San Francisco brought back punter Corliss Waitman and safety Ashtyn Davis a day after they were both cut in procedural moves. Long snapper Jon Weeks was signed back to the practice and will either be signed to the 53-man roster or promoted for the opener.
Twelve other players were signed to the practice squad: offensive linemen Isaac Alarcon and Drake Nugent; receivers Wesley Grimes, Will Pauling and KhaDarel Hodge; defensive linemen Ogbo Okoronkwo and Sebastian Valdez; defensive backs Jakob Robinson and Jalen Stroman; tight end Khalil Dinkins; linebacker Jalen Graham; and running back Sincere McCormick.
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