49ers tight end George Kittle is coming off a big game in last Sunday’s overtime win over the Bengals and a knee injury isn’t going to get in the way of his attempt to have another big one this Sunday.
Kittle didn’t practice on Wednesday, but returned for limited work on Thursday and head coach Kyle Shanahan updated his condition during an appearance on KNBR Friday. Shanahan said Kittle will be ready to go against the Falcons and that he’ll soldier through the team’s Week 16 Thursday night game against the Titans as well.
“He’s sore. They’re all pretty sore,” Shanahan said, via 49ersWebzone.com. “But he’ll be good for Sunday, and then he’ll be sore all the way to Thursday. And then he’ll knock out Thursday. The good thing about [playing on a short week] is that we’ll have a little mini-bye at the end of this.”
Shanahan said that running back Elijah Mitchell remains in the concussion protocol and is still dealing with a knee injury, so he hasn’t practiced this week but isn’t being ruled out year. The team expects cornerback Dontae Johnson back on Friday after he missed the two days due to the death of his mother and they’re holding out hope that linebacker Azeez Al-Shahir can play through an elbow injury.