49ers Now: Will George Kittle, Nick Bosa play in 2026 NFL season opener?
"49ers Now" hosts Matt Maiocco, Jennifer Lee Chan and Rod Brooks debate if Nick Bosa and George Kittle will play in San Francisco's season opener.
49ers Now: Will George Kittle, Nick Bosa play in 2026 NFL season opener? originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
Video Transcript
Matt, a lot of players kind of on the bubble of whether they're going to be able to play in week one.
What are your thoughts on guys like George Kittle and Nick Bosa?
Yeah, I mean, these are two guys that the 49ers have done everything in training camp to try to give them the best chance to be available week one.
You know, for Bosa, you know, he hasn't practiced at all as it pertains to 11 on 11 drills.
Same can be said for George Kittle.
Now this week, they're gonna try to get him going a little bit, get him out on the field and s- and make a decision.
I would think they'd wanna make a decision on both of these guys before they get on that plane Wednesday and head to Australia.
But there also might be a gray area where there's a chance that they could play, so they go ahead and travel them, and they, they're gonna practice in Australia three days or they have a bonus practice on the Saturday, the day after they get there, and they try to kind of figure into a full normal work week with, you know, practice Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, day off Thursday, and then the game is actually in Australia on the Friday morning.
But, you know, the, the guys that they put on the injury list are the only guys that are gonna be out in, at least in their minds, for a period of time.
You know, they're hoping to get, like Vadarrian Lowe back, and he's back at practice.
Malik Mustafa was one.
But, you know, right now it kind of feels like it's a And Dominic Puni's back from the concussion, been cleared.
It kind of feels like a coin flip for, Kittle and Bosa to a degree until we see them out there.
Yeah.
The practices before they get on the plane to go to Australia seem to be very critical.
I thought it was interesting when talking about George Kittle, and I think to a certain extent this applies to, to Bosa as well.
Kyle Shanahan, or I should say John Lynch said they don't necessarily wanna leave Kittle here without team supervision.
Not that they're afraid that he would do something or he would forget how to play football, but just to keep an eye on him, to monitor his progress and just also separating him from the team when it comes to team building camaraderie.
And also as they try to get ramped up for this first game in the, in the season.
I, I thought conventional wisdom anyway would say that, well, if he's not ready to play, he wouldn't get on the plane or they would make that determination before it was time to get on the plane on Wednesday.
I don't think they're going to adhere to that.
Yeah, and I mean, it is kind of conventional wisdom that if he's not gonna play, why go there?
But, you know, the counterpoint to that would be, as they pointed out, you know, he'd be missing team meetings- Mm-hmm and, and kind of staying in, in tune with the, the, where the offense is.
The rhythm.
Yeah.
Yeah, the rhythm of a, of a work week.
I, I mean, personally, I would think that George Kittle's played enough football that physically it would make a lot more sense for him to be here.
But, you know, it, it's not all bad if he goes there and ends up not playing.
But quite clearly, if he makes that trip, they're keeping that door, not just slightly ajar.
They're, they're ready to- They're holding the fort They're ready to slam that door open for him to play week one.
I mean, didn't you feel like over and over both Kyle Shanahan and John Lynch said these three practices.
Yes.
These three practices.
Yes.
This week is so critical to what their plan is for week one, and that's not normally the case, right?
This is a, a different situation because they have to leave town early.
They've got to get down there and do that week-long acclimation to the time and the weather.
It's going to be very colder, much colder down there.
It's kind of winter going into spring.
47 degrees is the low, 65 is the high.
It's gonna be not just a time change acclimation, but a weather acclimation.
But this week, you know, planning ahead much more than they normally would, Rod.
A peek behind the curtain.
So we got the email last night that there were going to be two practices, okay, before they leave for Australia.
Monday, sort of a day off on Tuesday, and then Wednesday practice, then go to Australia.
Then we get the email earlier today, they added a practice on Tuesday.
I- it led me to believe that they felt that there was value in getting that practice in on Tuesday so they could have three to see if they actually could get more answers, more positive answers in terms of Kittle and Bosa in particular possibly playing.
