The 49ers didn’t have tight end George Kittle in Friday’s practice at Levi’s Stadium, but there’s no reason for concern with the star tight end. While San Francisco has seen their list of injured and unavailable players pile up over the first couple weeks of camp, Kittle was out Friday so the team could protect the All-Pro from himself.
After Kittle experienced some hamstring tightness, the 49ers decided it was better to sit him out for a day than try and get him to take it easy since downshifting isn’t really in his makeup.
“Yeah, he’s good with all the testing, so there’s nothing pulled or strained, just tightness,” 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan told reporters after Friday’s session. “The way George moves and the way he goes, he only knows one way. So, when he’s tight, we’re going to protect him from himself and wait until he’s not tight.”
There are multiple reasons San Francisco would be extremely cautious with Kittle. First, he’s their top pass catcher and best offensive player. Second, they’ve already been banged up at tight end and losing their top one would be something close to insurmountable.
With the regular season set to kick off just over two weeks after Friday’s practice, there was no need to push Kittle and risk turning muscle tightness into a strain or something worse that could sideline him for the regular season. As long as Kittle is fully healthy for Week 1, his missed training camp sessions don’t matter much.