George Kittle Injury Update, Timeline for 49ers Return Updated by Kyle Shanahan

Three months after tearing his Achilles in the NFC Wild Card win over the Philadelphia Eagles, George Kittle could be ready for the start of the regular season.

Appearing on Thursday's episode of The Rich Eisen Show (starts at 1:20 mark), 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan said "there's a chance" Kittle could play in Week 1 and "that's what he's shooting for" as he continues to rehab the injury.

Shanahan stopped short of saying Kittle was "on track" for any specific date, but he wouldn't rule anything out as it pertains to his star tight end.

Kittle suffered the injury in the second quarter of San Francisco's 23-19 victory over the Eagles on Jan. 11 and had surgery three days later.

Speaking to reporters on Jan. 19, Kittle was optimistic about a relatively quick recovery timeline:

"Surgery went really, really good. [Dr. Neal ElAttrache] said best-case scenario when you tear an Achilles is that you tear it up high by your soleus, which is what I did. I had a clean tear. They didn't have to drill into my heel. And where the repair was there's more blood flow. And so it takes some time off of the recovery time... It's not as bad as other ones."

During that same media session, Kittle said his return could happen "well before November" in response to a question about playing again by midseason.

Given the timeline from when Kittle suffered the injury to San Francisco's opening game against the Los Angeles Rams on Sept. 10, an eight-month recovery from a torn Achilles isn't unheard of in the NFL.

Then-Rams running back Cam Akers tore his Achilles while training in July 2021. He was back on the field in Week 18, just over five months after the injury, and played in all four of their playoff games, starting each of the last three.

Kittle missed six games during the regular season due to hamstring and ankle injuries. He finished the year with 628 receiving yards and seven touchdowns in 11 games.

The 49ers' Week 1 matchup with the Rams will be the NFL's first-ever regular-season game played in Australia.