Could George Kittle or the 49ers have done anything different to prevent his devastating torn Achilles?<\/p>\n
The star tight end, who suffered a torn right Achilles in San Francisco’s NFC wild-card round playoff win over the Philadelphia Eagles on Jan. 11, joined the “Bussin’ With The Boys” podcast<\/a> and discussed his injury<\/a> and what he believes might have played somewhat of a role in his Achilles tearing.<\/p>\n “People were like ‘Well, why did it happen?’ Because I had these rehab people that were like ‘What occured, what were you doing that was wrong?’ I don’t know dude, it was Week 20 of an NFL f–king season, my body is broken down,” Kittle said.<\/p>\n “My biggest thing that I thought it was, when I played the Colts on “Monday Night Football,” I tore like two ligaments in my ankle and then I hurt it again because I kept playing on it. And then I was like very lopsided or I was compensating really bad, so I think that was a big part of it too.”<\/p>\n Kittle suffered what was called a “mid-to-low left ankle sprain<\/a>” in San Francisco’s win over the Colts<\/a> and ended up missing the Week 17 game against the Chicago Bears before returning in the Week 18 regular-season finale against the Seattle Seahawks.<\/p>\n He believes that how he rehabbed and prepared to play in the weeks following the Week 16 injury might have impacted the health of his right Achilles.<\/p>\n “Like I was compensating for the last three weeks on one ankle, so all the weight was on my right side, I was basically running on my right side,” Kittle shared. “Plus it was a weird position. That would be my best guess, I don’t know. Beside it being Week 20.”<\/p>\n There could be some truth to Kittle’s theory, as teammate and 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey dealt with bilateral Achilles tendinitis for the majority of the 2024 NFL season after suffering a calf strain in training camp that summer where he, similar to Kittle, overcompensated on one leg<\/a> throughout his recovery, which seemingly led to inflammation spreading to both Achilles tendons. <\/p>\n Regardless of preceeding events that might have played a role in Kittle’s injury, it now is in the past, and the tight end is ready to attack his rehab and return to the field for the 49ers at some point during the 2026 season.<\/p>\n