49ers star TE George Kittle gives big update on Achilles tear

Tight end George Kittle is sounding positive as the San Francisco 49ers officially head into the offseason.

The 49ers cleaned out their lockers on Monday, a few days after they lost to the Seattle Seahawks in the divisional round of the NFC Playoffs, 41-6.

Kittle tore his right Achilles tendon against the Philadelphia Eagles in the wild-card round, but he was available to speak with the media for the first time since he injured himself on Jan. 11.

Kittle underwent surgery last weekend under the care of Dr. Neal ElAttrache in Los Angeles, and he reported back on Monday that everything went about as well as it could have.

In fact, he's already thinking about a speedy return to the field.

"Surgery went really, really good," Kittle said, according to Nick Wagoner of ESPN. "[ElAttrache] said best-case scenario when you tear an Achilles is that you tear it up high by your soleus, which is what I did. I had a clean tear. They didn't have to drill into my heel. And where the repair was there's more blood flow. And so it takes some time off of the recovery time... It's not as bad as other ones."

San Francisco 49ers TE George Kittle knew right away he suffered a major injury 

Kittle went down in the first half of the 23-19 win over the Eagles, and he knew right away as the injury happened that it was going to be bad.

A member of the Eagles' training staff was the first to come up for him and that person asked Kittle what he needed. The star tight end's response was to ask for a cart.

"I knew exactly when it happened, it felt like someone put a shotgun up against my calf and pulled the trigger," Kittle said. "The second it happened, I knew exactly what it was... Unfortunate, but football's tough sometimes."

Football is tough, but so is Kittle. He's known as one of the hardest-working tight ends in the NFL and whether he's blocking or trying to pick up yards after the catch, few are as gritty as him.

This past season, Kittle had 57 catches for 628 yards and seven touchdowns. 

He relayed on Monday that he wants to make it back for the 2026 season "well before November."