The San Francisco 49ers had one of the most injury-ravaged seasons in recent memory in 2025. The list was long, the timing was brutal, and the team never quite got healthy enough to make a serious playoff run. George Kittle was one of the players caught in the middle of it, missing significant time early with a hamstring injury before fighting his way back into the lineup.

What nobody knew until now was what he was carrying in those final weeks of the season.

On Tuesday’s episode of Bussin’ With The Boys, Kittle opened up about the true state of his body during the stretch run. The picture was not pretty.

49ers’ Kittle Reveals What He Was Playing Through

Kittle tore two ligaments in his ankle during the Week 16 Monday Night Football game against the Indianapolis Colts. He kept playing. He suited up against the Chicago Bears. He played against the Seattle Seahawks. He was on the field in the Wild Card round against the Philadelphia Eagles before the Achilles went.

Three weeks of football on a torn-up ankle. Kittle’s own theory is that the compensation pattern that developed during that stretch may have played a direct role in what happened next.

“When I played the Colts on Monday Night Football, I tore like two ligaments in my ankle and then I hurt it again because I kept playing on it,” Kittle said. “I was very lopsided, I was compensating really bad. I think that was a big part of it. I was compensating for the last three weeks on one ankle, so all the weight was on my right side.”

The logic tracks. Christian McCaffrey dealt with bilateral Achilles tendinitis throughout the 2024 season after a similar pattern. A calf strain that led to overcompensation, which spread the load in ways the body was not built to sustain. Kittle appears to have experienced something comparable. Shift the weight long enough onto one side and eventually something gives.

What Kittle Said When It Happened

Kittle knew immediately when the Achilles went. As he went down against the Eagles, fullback Kyle Juszczyk came over to check on him. Kittle’s response was immediate. “Get me a cart. I’m not walking this one off, bud.”

The injury itself turned out to be about as good as a torn Achilles can be. The team doctor told him the tear was high, near the calf, which meant better blood flow and a cleaner repair without needing to drill into the heel. “For what you did, how you tore it, where you tore it — it couldn’t have been any better,” Kittle recalled being told. “You got super lucky.”

He is out of the walking boot now. He is in heel-lift shoes and working on an anti-gravity treadmill. The crutches are almost gone. “My trajectory is fantastic,” Kittle said. The medical staff has told him the hardest jump is going from crutches to walking, and that once he clears that hurdle, the progression to running comes quickly after.

Kittle finished the 2025 season with 57 receptions, 628 yards, and seven touchdowns across 11 games, earning a seventh Pro Bowl selection despite everything his body went through. The numbers alone do not capture what it took to produce them.

The question now is timeline. A return sometime in 2026 looks increasingly likely, but the next few months of rehab will go a long way in shaping when that happens. The 49ers recently re-signed Jake Tonges to provide depth behind him, which suggests the organization is not expecting Kittle back immediately.

Final Word for the 49ers

Kittle played three weeks of football on a torn ankle. Then he tore his Achilles. Then he described his own trajectory as fantastic.

That is who he is. It has always been who he is. The body breaks down and he finds a way to keep showing up until it physically will not let him anymore.

The 49ers are counting on him being back. Based on everything he has said, so is he.