49ers' George Kittle eyes return to practice, opener in Australia

SANTA CLARA, Calif. -- With 17 days until the flight that will take the San Francisco 49ersto Australia, tight end George Kittle, who suffered a torn right Achilles in January, still maintains hope that he'll be ready to board that airplane and play in the regular-season opener against the Los Angeles Rams on Sept. 10.

On Sunday, Kittle said it's still possible that he will be back on the practice field soon.

"I have a chance," Kittle said while speaking to Bay Area media for about 15 minutes. "We're running around a lot, hitting top speeds. Hopefully, we're back in pads practicing sooner than later. Just trying to check the boxes and not be a dumbass."

Kittle was referring to the tedious rehabilitation process that could have him ready for a Week 1 return after sustaining the injury against the Philadelphia Eagles on Jan. 11.

As Kittle explained Sunday, any deviation from the plan he got from Dr. Neal ElAttrache and his staff could disrupt his efforts to get back on the field as soon as possible. That recovery plan, according to Kittle, is "the most boring rehab in the entire world."

For most of the process, Kittle said he has had to focus on doing as many seated and standing calf raises as possible every day. His workouts, however, have taken on a more football-specific approach of late.

As the Niners practiced last week, Kittle was running and cutting at nearly full speed while running routes and catching passes from a team staffer on a side field. On Sunday, Kittle said he's hitting the speed benchmarks set for him on the GPS and is "pretty close" to hitting the same speed numbers he hit before the injury.

Kittle said he has a target date in mind for returning to practice but declined to share it. He added that he's "very confident" he won't start the season on the physically unable to perform list, meaning he intends to be back within the season's first four games.

Kittle's quick recovery has been a source of inspiration for teammates and coaches, who both have marveled at how fast he has gotten up to speed. Kittle reiterated Sunday that it was "pretty easy to light a fire every single day" after Dr. ElAttrache told him right away that he could be back for Week 1 if he did everything right.

"[It's] relentless positivity from George, like always," offensive coordinator Klay Kubiak said. "That's how he lives his life. It's how he goes about his every day. And you got to appreciate that about him. And to me, that's what's going to make him get back from his injury and be himself again is because he has the right mindset.

"He attacks every day with positivity that he's progressing and he's healing. And just in seeing him out there just with the trainers working out, he looks great. And I'm excited to see kind of how he progresses over these next few weeks."

Kittle said a decision on his status for Week 1 likely would come before the team leaves for Melbourne on Sept. 2 to avoid him taking the long flight for a game he'd miss.

"I would assume so," Kittle said. "That probably makes the most sense."

Kittle said he feels good now, but he acknowledged that getting back to playing football is different than working out.

"I want to play in every football game that I possibly can play in, but I'm also aware it's an 18-week season," Kittle said. "If you miss Week 1 and you're playing Week 2, hey, it is what it is. ... I'm just going to keep that as my goal and then we'll adjust from there if we need to. But I still believe that. My team still believes that. My surgeon still believes I have a chance. So just keep attacking it."br/]