49ers tight end George Kittle is practicing this week and he’s moving into team drills in the days leading up to their trip to Australia, so any worries that his return from a torn Achilles hit a snag should be put to rest.
Kittle’s status for Week 1 against the Rams remains up in the air, but head coach Kyle Shanahan said on Monday that last week’s press conference comment that Kittle had “taken a step back” was not meant to express that his timeline for returning to the lineup had changed.
“I don’t know exactly what I said there, but it was probably just me not speaking right,” Shanahan said. “George has been great. He’s passing everything. We’re just getting him out with the team these three days and anytime when you come back out and practice with the team going against people and stuff — I hope there’s not a setback in that way. That has nothing to do with his injury or anything, that has to do with his coming back and practicing these three days. There was nothing that I meant to say that people looked into. If I did say that, it was an accident.”
The 49ers will practice the next three days before traveling to Melbourne to resume preparations for the opener. Shanahan said it wasn’t necessary to know if Kittle will play before leaving, but that it wouldn’t be a bad thing.
“I think if we didn’t think he was going to play and it was looking that way, it would much nicer to make the decision before we left,” Shanahan said.
The team also plans to have defensive end Nick Bosa on the practice field this week and they’ll be hoping both players look like they’re ready to contribute against their division rivals to kick off the season.
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