Initially published on Tuesday, 9/9/25, at 9:52 a.m. Eastern.
Updated on Wednesday, 9/10/25, at 9:40 a.m. Eastern.
UPDATE: The 49ers decided to place Kittle on IR Tuesday afternoon, so he’s going to miss at least four games before being eligible to return.
According to a Monday report from the NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, San Francisco veteran tight end George Kittle is going to miss 3-5 weeks with a hamstring injury.
Kittle was injured in the second quarter of the 49ers’ 17-13 win at Seattle. He already had four catches for 25 yards and one touchdown on four targets.
The 31-year-old Kittle is a six-time Pro-Bowl selection who agreed to a four-year contract extension worth $76.4 million back in April. The new deal made him the NFL’s highest-paid TE.
In 15 regular-season games last year, Kittle had 76 receptions for 1,106 yards and eight TDs. He has eclipsed more than 1,000 receiving yards in four of his eight NFL seasons.
Kittle has played in 114 career regular-season games, hauling in 542 catches for 7,405 yards and 46 TDs. The 49ers’ fifth-round pick with the #146 overall selection in the 2017 NFL Draft has helped them make the playoffs four times.
In 12 career postseason contests, Kittle has 33 catches for 455 yards and two TDs.
At his press conference Monday, San Francisco head coach Kyle Shanahan also revealed that quarterback Brock Purdy is dealing with injuries to his left non-throwing shoulder and his toe. Those issues have Purdy’s availability in question for Sunday’s game at New Orleans.
Shanahan said the toe injury is the worse of the two injuries. Veteran backup Mac Jones would get the starting nod if Purdy is unable to go against the Saints, who lost their opener to Arizona by a 20-13 score as six-point home underdogs.
The 27-year-old Jones is in his fifth NFL season for his third different team. The University of Alabama product started 42 games for the Patriots in his first three years, and he started seven of 10 games he played in for the Jaguars in 2024.
Jones’s teams have posted a 20-29 record in his 49 career starts. He completed 65.3 percent of his passes for 1,672 yards with an 8/8 touchdown-to-interception ratio in Jacksonville last year.
San Francisco WR Jauan Jennings also sustained a shoulder injury at Seattle. Here’s the play in which he was injured.
An MRI on Monday came back clean for Jennings, but the team is still awaiting the results of a CT scan. He’s apparently avoided a long-term injury, but his status at New Orleans is in doubt.
The 49ers were already dealing with issues galore at the WR position before Sunday’s lid-lifter against the Seahawks. They attempted to remedy the crisis Monday by signing WR Kendrick Bourne to a one-year deal for $5 million.
The 30-year-old Bourne spent his first four NFL seasons in San Francisco from 2017-20. In 15 regular-season games and five starts in 2020, he had 49 receptions for 667 yards and two TDs.
Bourne was with the Patriots from 2021-24, starting 21 times in 53 games. He had a career-best season in 2021, hauling in 55 catches for 800 yards and five TDs. Bourne also had 125 rushing yards on 12 attempts for a 10.4 yards-per-carry average.
In three playoff games with the 49ers in 2019, Bourne had six catches for 88 yards and one TD. He’s played in 111 career regular-season contests, catching 292 balls for 3,714 yards and 22 TDs.
As of Tuesday morning, most books had San Francisco listed as a 4.5-point road favorite at New Orleans. The total was 41 points, while the Saints were in the +180 to +190 range on the money line.
FanDuel still has the 49ers as +140 ‘chalk’ to win the NFC West. The next-shortest odds belong to the Rams (+180), Cardinals (+360) and Seahawks (+1000 or 10/1).
San Francisco currently shares the sixth-shortest odds (19/1) on the board to win Super Bowl LX with the Lions and Rams. The Bills are +650 favorites.
Due to the absences of WRs Brandon Aiyuk (injury) and DeMarcus Robinson, I was confident that second-year WR Ricky Pearsall would see an uptick in targets going into Week 1.
As you can see here, I played Pearsall’s prop for receiving yards to go ‘over’ 42.5 at Seattle. Pearsall’s seven targets were the second-most for San Francisco behind only the 10 for RB Christian McCaffrey. The former Florida Gator had 39 receiving yards on the 49ers’ first drive and finished the game with four catches for 108 yards.
Pearsall’s 45-yard reception was the biggest play on San Francisco’s game-winning drive that was capped by Purdy’s four-yard TD pass to Jake Tonges with 1:34 remaining.
As of Tuesday morning, DraftKings and FanDuel had not posted NFL players props yet except for Washington at Green Bay on Thursday Night Football. Although we’ll certainly see a higher number for Pearsall against the Saints, I’ll be looking to play his ‘over’ again at any number less than 70.