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Nick Wagoner, ESPN Staff WriterNov 20, 2024, 05:39 PM ET
- Nick Wagoner is an NFL reporter at ESPN. Nick has covered the San Francisco 49ers and the NFL at ESPN since 2016, having previously covered the St. Louis Rams for 12 years, including three years (2013 to 2015) at ESPN. In his 10 years with the company, Nick has led ESPN’s coverage of the Niners’ 2019 Super Bowl run, Colin Kaepernick’s protest, the Rams making Michael Sam the first openly gay player drafted to the NFL, Sam’s subsequent pursuit of a roster spot and the team’s relocation and stadium saga. You can follow Nick via Twitter @nwagoner
SANTA CLARA, Calif. — As the San Francisco 49ers wait and watch to see how many of their key injured players will be available on Sunday against the Green Bay Packers, tight end George Kittle is leaving no room for debate.
“I will be playing on Sunday,” Kittle said Wednesday afternoon. “Very excited. Can’t pass up playing the Packers, so no, I will be out there for sure.”
Kittle participated in Wednesday’s practice on a limited basis after a hamstring injury kept him out of last week’s loss to the Seattle Seahawks. Kittle reported hamstring “irritation” in the days after the Niners’ Nov. 10 win against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
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While Kittle didn’t practice last Wednesday, he was a limited participant on Thursday and Friday, which seemed to position him to play against the Seahawks. He said Wednesday that for most of last week the hamstring seemed to be improving but it wasn’t where he wanted it to be when the weekend rolled around.
“Saturday was a tough day,” Kittle said. “I thought I felt pretty good on Friday. Saturday didn’t feel great and then Sunday was just not in a good enough place to be like, ah, let’s go out there and push it. I don’t think I would’ve been my best self anyway.”
Kittle was inactive and sorely missed against the Seahawks as the Niners struggled to a season-low output in yards from scrimmage (277) and tied for a season low in points (17). In the eight games he’s played this season, Kittle has been the team’s most productive pass catcher with 43 receptions for 560 yards and seven touchdowns.
This is the first hamstring injury Kittle has dealt with since he was a rookie but if he does indeed return on Sunday, it won’t be the first time he’s come back from an injury against the Packers. In 2019, Kittle came back from ankle and knee injuries to post six catches for 129 yards and a touchdown in a win against the Packers.
Kittle has regularly played through injury during his career, he and the Niners decided it wasn’t worth the risk that he could injure the hamstring further by trying to play against Seattle.
“They’re just really finicky and it’s one of those things that you can just be running a random route and all of a sudden you pull it even more and then it’s four to six weeks and then I’m on probably season ending IR,” Kittle said. “It was just something we wanted to make sure I had full confidence in and I did not have full confidence in it.”
While Kittle is full of confidence that a return to the field is imminent, the Niners have a handful of other important players who bear monitoring this week. Quarterback Brock Purdy popped up on the injury report Monday with soreness in his right (throwing) shoulder.
Coach Kyle Shanahan said Purdy would be day-to-day but said he didn’t have much concern that Purdy would be out Sunday “right now” as Purdy participated in Wednesday’s practice.
“We’ll see how this week goes but he was limited today so that’s good,” Shanahan said.
Cornerback Charvarius Ward also returned to practice on Wednesday after being away from the team to grieve the death of his 1-year-old daughter. Ward re-joined the team over the weekend, attended the game against the Seahawks and was in meetings on Monday.
Because he hasn’t practiced since before the Oct. 27 win against the Dallas Cowboys, Ward was also limited on Wednesday.
“This is going to be his first practice here in a while,” Shanahan said. “I really don’t have any expectations of it. Going to take it slow, see how he is out there today and watch him throughout the week and communicate with him throughout the week and make a decision as we get closer to game time.”
Game time decisions could also be in the offing for star left tackle Trent Williams and defensive end Nick Bosa. Williams (ankle) and Bosa (hip/oblique) did not practice on Wednesday after playing through their injuries against Seattle.
Bosa injured both hips and both obliques in the past couple of weeks but the right hip/oblique issue that bothered him going into the Seattle game has improved while the left side has lingered. Which means Bosa is likely to follow a similar plan to last week when he didn’t practice at all the first two days then was limited on Friday.
“It gets better every day,” Bosa said. “We’ll see. Definitely a little early to call it either way but we’ll find out in a few days.”
Williams played through his ankle issue against the Seahawks after not practicing at all last week. Shanahan said Williams and Bosa will be given as much time as needed to try to be available in Green Bay.
“When it comes to a guy like Bosa, when it comes to a guy like Trent, their position, the veterans they are, how they play, those guys have all the way to kick off for me,” Shanahan said.
