Kittle designated to return

49ers TE George Kittle (calf) was designated to return from IR. He'll get back on the practice field this week and has a chance to play vs. the Cardinals on Sunday. We'll monitor his status over the next few days.

Niners TE George Kittle tallied 6 catches for 120 yards and 2 TDs in Saturday's win over the Commanders. Kittle led his team in all 3 categories. It marked his 2nd straight 2-TD game. WR Brandon Aiyuk followed with 5 catches for 81 yards on 7 targets. WR Jauan Jennings (2) and RB Christian McCaffrey (2) were the only other 49ers to catch passes. San Francisco gets an upside matchup with the Raiders in Week 17.

49ers TE George Kittle showed progress with 5 catches for 47 yards in Week 5 at Carolina. He made a few impressive contested catches, although he did lose one fumble. His 6 targets ranked 2nd on the team and represented a decent 20% team share. The veteran entered Sunday with only 50 yards on 6 catches across his first 2 appearances. A low-volume passing game will keep the volatility high going forward, but we’re still likely to see some spike weeks soon. Week 6 turns up a positive scoring matchup at Atlanta.

49ers TE George Kittle managed only 24 yards on 2 catches in a Week 4 win over the Rams. His 4 targets tied for 2nd on the team and represented a lackluster 14.8% share. Kittle nearly scored, but he couldn’t quite get his 2nd foot down in bounds. So, we’re looking at 2 duds in 2 appearances for the veteran. He at least ran a route on ~86% of Jimmy Garoppolo’s dropbacks — but clearly, we’re headed for volatility with the run-heavy 49ers.

49ers TE George Kittle made his season debut Week 3 at Denver but managed only 4 catches for 28 yards. He saw 5 targets — a 17.2% share — and posted a strong 82% route rate. Brighter days are ahead for Kittle, assuming he can dodge further injury woes. Next up is a meeting with the Rams.

49ers TE George Kittle (groin) isn't listed on the final Week 3 injury report. He put in limited practices on Wednesday and Thursday and a full practice on Friday, so it looks like he's ready for a full workload against the Broncos on Sunday night. See where Kittle sits in the Week 3 TE Rankings.