49ers' Nick Bosa addresses Week 1 status after taking massive step in recovery

Shortly after it was revealed on Wednesday that San Francisco 49ers tight end George Kittle and star pass-rusher Nick Bosa would be traveling with the team for its Week 1 game versus the Los Angeles Rams in Melbourne, Australia, Bosa participated in a full practice for the first time since he suffered a season-ending ACL tear on Sept. 21 of last year.

Later on Wednesday, Bosa suggested that he plans to play against the Rams.

Nick Bosa feeling "pretty good" about playing against Rams

"After today, yeah, that was pretty good," Bosa said when asked about his Week 1 status, per Nick Wagoner of ESPN and Vic Tafur of The Athletic. 

As recently as Sept. 1, Evan Webeck of the New York Post believed that Kittle was more likely than Bosa to play against the Rams. Kittle suffered a torn Achilles tendon on Jan. 11, but a Wednesday report claimed that he "is trending in the right direction to play" in Week 1. 

As for Bosa, his status for the Rams game has been up in the air since it was learned on Aug. 11 that he was "considered week-to-week due to tendinitis in his surgically repaired knee."

"It was a long road," Bosa said about that setback. "There's some stuff I dealt with, with that patella tendon, and then I kind of ramped it a little too fast with the football stuff a month ago or whatever it was. And that kind of told me to back off. I've just been trying to get it as strong and myself as confident as I can to where I could rip the Band-Aid off and go to team stuff today."

Nick Bosa was "anxious" about trying to get ready for Week 1

Understandably, the 49ers and Bosa are being cautious amid this stage of his injury recovery. The club has multiple practices scheduled to take place in Australia, beginning with Saturday's session, and it's unclear when Bosa's status for Week 1 may be revealed. 

"I haven't tried to think too far into the future lately because I honestly didn't know exactly how or when I was going to be back and how it was going to go," Bosa added. "It just kind of made me anxious, and I didn't want to be let down or get too excited, but I'm sure I'm going to be really excited once I get a week of practice under my belt."

Per Eduardo Razo of Heavy, NFL insider Tom Pelissero of The Ringer said during a Wednesday appearance on 95.7 The Game that Kittle "is now tracking to" play in Week 1. Pelissero also warned that Bosa's knee could "swell up" due to travel and the time change. 

"The last thing the 49ers want to do in a 17-game schedule, plus they hope for a deep playoff run, is have these guys suffer some type of setback where now it’s impacted them through the rest of the season," Pelissero continued. "So I would imagine from a snap count perspective, they’ll be very cautious about how much they’re putting on these guys’ plates."