The San Francisco 49ers welcomed tight end George Kittle back to the practice field on Monday, after missing a week with a hamstring injury. Kittle suffered the injury on July 30. He missed practice entire on July 31, and after the team’s day off, started doing individual drills on August 2. On Monday, he returned to full drills.
The team wasted no time getting him right back in the mix. Kittle got a strong helping of first and second team reps, which was consistent with his work before the injury. He’s gotten plenty of positive praise after turning into a fairly regular target for the quarterbacks.
Earlier today, I put together my latest 53-man roster projection, and for the time-being I have a complete overhaul of the roster. Cole Hikutini is firmly on the bubble, but there is little from Vance McDonald, Garrett Celek, or Blake Bell that suggests they have locked up one of the three spots. George Kittle and Logan Paulsen will likely secure two of them, leaving probably no more than one spot for the rest. If Kittle is going to become a regular with the first team, and Paulsen can secure the more blocking side of things, it makes more sense to keep a developmental third option like Hikutini, who has been impressing the past week.