49ers' George Kittle shares huge injury recovery update amid Week 1 goal

Earlier this spring, San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan revealed that there is "a chance" that star tight end George Kittle could play in the 49ers' Week 1 game versus the Los Angeles Rams in Melbourne, Australia, coming off the torn Achilles that Kittle suffered in January. 

While speaking with reporters on Wednesday, Kittle said he is "doing great" as he works toward his goal of possibly taking the field for the regular-season opener. 

George Kittle "ahead of schedule" in injury recovery?

"When I had the surgery and [Dr. Neal] ElAttrache told me, he said, 'Hey, I think if you do everything the right way, you have a chance,' it definitely ignites something and makes you push for it," Kittle explained, per Nick Wagoner of ESPN. "We're on track. We're ahead of schedule."

Kittle went down during the 49ers' wild-card playoff victory at the Philadelphia Eagles on Jan. 11. A standard recovery timeline for such a setback would lead one to believe he wouldn't be good to go to face a live defense in a meaningful game until later in the fall. 

However, Wagoner first hinted in February that Kittle could be cleared to make a full return to football-related activities before Labor Day. It sounds like that remains a possibility as of the first week of June. 

George Kittle addresses this concern about playing in Week 1

Questions have arisen about whether or not the long flight to and from Australia could impact Kittle's ability to play against the Rams. According to Wagoner, "Kittle said he wasn't too concerned with such things and didn't know how the flight might affect his efforts to return." 

For what it's worth, Kittle seemingly isn't focusing on that aspect of his journey during springtime workouts. 

"There's just boxes you have to check before you're cleared to do something else," Kittle added. "And then once I'm actually allowed to go train the way I want to train, then it'll be just really fun to be able to go back to doing all the football movements I want to do: run blocking, pass pro, running routes, catching the ball. Then, it's just knock some of the rust off because I haven't done a lot since January and just get back out there."

On Wednesday, Shanahan shared that he canceled next week's mandatory minicamp to reward his players for achieving 100 percent attendance during this week's organized team activities. Thus, media members and fans will have to wait until training-camp practices get underway in late July to see how Kittle is coming along in his recovery.