San Francisco 49ers tight end George Kittle is going to play against the Green Bay Packers in Week 12. Kittle missed Week 11’s loss to the Seattle Seahawks with a hamstring injury that flared up after the 49ers’ win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in early November, but he’s not letting that injury keep him out of this one.
For interested fantasy football managers and 49ers fans alike, this is the type of soundbite that you can take to the bank with a player like Kittle.
“I will be playing on Sunday,” Kittle said on Wednesday afternoon, according to ESPN. “Very excited. Can’t pass up playing the Packers, so no, I will be out there for sure.”
There’s always, of course, the potential for an unexpected flair-up. Those things happen often in the NFL, but it sure sounds like Kittle is energetic about the prospect of playing the Packers. And why wouldn’t he be? The last time he played Green Bay was in the 2023 postseason when he put up four catches for 81 yards (20.3 yards per catch) and a touchdown in San Francisco’s 24-21 NFC Divisional Playoffs win over Jordan Love and the Pack. Two years before that, in the 2021 postseason, he caught four passes for 63 yards (15.8 yards per catch) in the 49ers’ 13-10 NFC Divisional Playoffs win over the Packers.
Kittle plays well against the Packers, and that’s one of the main predictions for him in this Week 12 clash.
George Kittle will look healthy
This is probably the biggest point that fans of the 49ers will be wondering about. Kittle says he wants to play, and that’s one thing. But if he plays, will he look good while doing it? It’s worth noting that Kittle did practice for the 49ers on Wednesday, but he was limited. He didn’t practice last Wednesday before the game against the Seahawks, but he was limited for Thursday and Friday’s practice. There was some hope he could play against Seattle, but the 49ers decided to keep him out to avoid any more complications.
Hamstrings can be complicated, and the Niners didn’t want to risk their star-tight end for just one game.
“They’re just really finicky, and it’s one of those things that you can just be running a random route, and all of a sudden you pull it even more, and then it’s four to six weeks, and then I’m on probably season-ending IR,” Kittle explained on Wednesday. “It was just something we wanted to make sure I had full confidence in, and I did not have full confidence in it.”
If he’s saying he’ll play against the Packers, then Kittle must have full confidence in the hamstring. Throw in that extra week of rest, and it stands to reason that he’ll look healthy out there in Week 12.
Kittle will score a touchdown against the Packers
Continuing the exploration of Kittle’s numbers against the Packers, consider his output in 2019. He caught just one pass for 19 yards in the 2019 NFC Championship Game — a 37-20 win by the 49ers that sent them to Super Bowl LIV against the Kansas City Chiefs (which they ultimately lost, 31-20 — but Niners quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo only threw eight passes in that game, so there weren’t many opportunities. Remember, Raheem Mostert ran for 220 yards and four touchdowns in that contest.
Kittle played the Packers earlier in that season, though, in late November, and he notched six catches for 129 yards and a touchdown, averaging 21.5 yards per catch in that 37-8 49ers’ win.
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There’s a reason Kittle is excited to come back for this game, and that’s because he loves playing against the Packers. That wouldn’t be all that surprising, either, for a kid born in Madison, Wisconsin, except Kittle grew up as a fan of the Chicago Bears. He’s always taken great pride in beating up on the Packers.
Kittle will make a highlight-reel block
Kittle has always been a downfield threat, and one of the things that makes him so special as a tight end is his ability to catch the ball and rumble with it for big YAC (yards after the catch). At 6-foot-4, 250 pounds, he shouldn’t be confused as “just” a receiving tight end, though. Remember, he played college football at Iowa, where the main requirement for being a tight end is to be able to block in the run game.
Kittle has taken his time at Iowa to heart, and he’s absolutely one of the better blocking tight ends in the league when healthy. The Packers just had a player fall victim to a monster pancake block against the Chicago Bears, so it only stands to reason that he’ll find himself on the right side of a pancake block in this one. Expect him to be so fired up that his block ends up making the rounds on social media.
He’s a highlight-reel-worthy tight end, and it’s more than just his ability to catch the football that is exciting.