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George Kittle’s availability for the 49ers’ Week 11 showdown with the Cardinals is still up in the air. Maybe.
The star tight end didn’t practice Wednesday after not practicing at all in Week 10 and missing the team’s Monday night loss to the Seahawks. Kittle is dealing with knee and ankle injuries that resulted from a collision on the 49ers’ first offensive snap in Arizona.
Head coach Kyle Shanahan on Tuesday told 49ers reporters during a conference that Kittle was still day-to-day with an uncertain status for Sunday.
“Kittle (is) still in the same boat,” Shanahan said. “Hopeful for (him) this week, but still pretty similar to last week.”
Kittle didn’t practice leading up to the Seahawks game and was officially listed as ‘doubtful’ on the injury report. There was some optimism during the week that he’d be able to play though and miss only one game.
Things got confusing after Wednesday’s practice when Shanahan went on a conference call with Cardinals reporters.
The 49ers head coach told that group of reporters “we won’t have Kittle.” He didn’t mention any change in Kittle’s status in a press conference with 49ers reporters a short time before that.
Shanahan told the Cardinals media "we won't have Kittle" in Sunday's game against the Cardinals. That's different than what he said Tuesday — that the team wouldn't rule out Kittle until the last possible opportunity.
— Matt Barrows (@mattbarrows) November 14, 2019
It appears that Shanahan jumped the gun on divulging the truth about Kittle’s status for Week 11. It didn’t stop with his conference call though. The 49ers clarified what the coach meant when he said the team would be without its top tight end for the second consecutive week.
#49ers spokesman says Kyle Shanahan's intended message to Arizona media was that the team will have to prepare as though George Kittle is not going to play. Although Kittle is unlikely to play, he has NOT been ruled out officially.
— Nick Wagoner (@nwagoner) November 14, 2019
So he is not, NOT playing. But he’s also unlikely to play.
It was a roller coaster, but it appears that we’ve landed at the start. The 49ers are worried Kittle won’t play, and are preparing again to be without him, but his history of playing through pain and overcoming injuries is keeping them from publicly ruling him out. Shanahan accidentally did the latter prior to the clarification from the club.
While Kittle isn’t officially out against Arizona, it sounds like a repeat of last week where he neither practices nor plays is on the horizon. We’ll know more Friday when the official injury report comes out.