19 hours ago 2

What will the 49ers do at TE without George Kittle?

The San Francisco 49ers took another blow this week when tight end George Kittle was placed on Injured Reserve with the hamstring injury he suffered in Week 1 against the Seattle Seahawks.

After a pair of catches, including a touchdown, on the opening drive, Kittle was quickly ruled out with the hamstring injury, pointing to the severity of the issue. Then, earlier this week, the 49ers placed the star on Injured Reserve, meaning he’ll miss the next four weeks. That includes games against the New Orleans Saints, Arizona Cardinals, Jacksonville Jaguars, and Los Angeles Rams.

From the initial outlook, it makes sense why the 49ers would keep Kittle out for the next four weeks, even if the projected timeline is three to five weeks. San Francisco’s Week 5 game against the Rams is a Thursday night game, which would be a quick turnaround for Kittle. Instead, placing him on IR allows the team to have an extra roster spot, while giving the tight end more time to recover ahead of Week 6 against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Additionally, given that it was earlier in the season, it allows for the tight end to fully recover, rather than push too hard and re-aggravate the injury.

”It hurts when he’s out, but those things happen, and George is already doing everything he can to get back,” general manager Lynch said on KNBR earlier this week. “He will miss four games because we did put him on IR. We felt like that was the appropriate action with the level of injury that he had. It gives him the best opportunity to play the rest of the season healthy. Sometimes, if you come back too early, there’s a higher risk at re-injuring. So, this gives him the best opportunity to be healthy the rest of the season.”

San Francisco already brought in several tight ends for a workout this week, and head coach Kyle Shanahan indicated the team will likely sign another player in Kittle’s absence.

But, what is the team’s plan for the group after losing such a key piece to the room?

“Brayden Willis is on our practice squad and has a good opportunity to be flexed up this week,” Lynch said. “Brayden’s played a lot of football for us. Luke Farrell was a big priority this offseason in free agency, one of the first moves we made. We wanted to do it to complement George, but also to have a guy in the event that George couldn’t play, where he can handle a lot of the dirty work that goes on, and then as a capable receiver as well. I think the combination of those three [including Jake Tonges].”

”And as Jake [Tonges] took advantage of the opportunity, now these guys got to step up. And those are huge shoes to fill. We’re not asking anyone to go be George Kittle, but hopefully, as a combination of guys, we can come close to filling those shoes.”

None of the options in the room provides quite the receiving threat that Kittle is, so the 49ers’ offensive gameplan will have to shift a bit. If Jauan Jennings does not go this week, that could be an even bigger dosage of Ricky Pearsall, who had four catches and 108 yards in the season opener.

But, if the 49ers can at least get some production from the tight end room, that would take a big burden off backup quarterback Mac Jones’s chest for the next few weeks.