The 2025 NFL season was absolutely brutal on the San Francisco 49ers in terms of season-ending injuries for some of the team’s best players on both sides of the football, with Nick Bosa, Fred Warner and George Kittle all going down at different times throughout the year.
Bosa lasted only three games before suffering a torn ACL, and then Warner went down in Week 6 with a fractured and dislocated ankle. Kittle didn’t suffer his season-ending Achilles injury until the NFL playoffs rolled around, which isn’t ideal considering the severity of the injury and how long it generally takes to recover from it.
49ers’ George Kittle Reveals 2 Ways He’d Retire
With Kittle set to turn 33 in October and Achilles injuries potentially being career-ending for older players, the retirement speculation was bound to pop up, and that it has, which the superstar tight end recently addressed on the Ross Tucker Podcast, while admitting his wife Claire Kittle will let him know when it is time to hang them up.
“I love football, and my body will tell me when I can’t play anymore,” Kittle said. “Or my wife will tell me I look like [expletive], one or the other. I’ll trust her word on that because she likes it when I play football, but I love it too much, and I know I have a lot of miles left in the tank at a high level.”
Although Kittle has only just begun the extensive rehab process from his injury, the perennial Pro Bowler hasn’t even considered retirement, which shows his determination to continue his Hall-of-Fame-caliber career in the NFL, via Nick Wagoner of ESPN.
“It doesn’t take a lot for me to be inspired to play football because it’s like my favorite thing ever besides my wife and my family,” Kittle said. “But anytime that you’re taken away from it, it just makes you want to get right back out there, and that’s all you want to do.”
49ers GM John Lynch Shares Update on George Kittle
During the NFL offseason, the 49ers will closely monitor the recoveries of Bosa, Warner, and Kittle, who all seem to be headed in the right direction.
49ers longtime general manager John Lynch recently gave an update on what he’s seen from Kittle, via Wagoner.
“George will attack it in a great way,” general manager John Lynch said. “We’re very hopeful to have him back. I remember when I first started playing, you had an Achilles, and everybody’s like, ‘Oh man, that’s tough. You’re never the same.’ That’s not the case anymore. I think like a lot of things, they’ve gotten much better at the surgeries, they’ve gotten much better and more aggressive in the rehab and how quickly you get after it. And I think that will be the case for George and we expect to have him back next year and a big impact like he always has been for us.”
Veteran tight end definitely seems to have the right mindset as he heads into a long recovery process, but it remains to be seen what his status will be for next season.
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