George Kittle’s goal from the moment he tore his Achilles was to get back for the season opener. He said Wednesday that he remains on track to get back for Week 1.
“My Achilles is doing great, no setbacks in my recovery,” Kittle said, via David Bonilla of 49erswebzone.com. “Checking all the boxes, doing everything I’m supposed to do. My surgeon’s super happy. My physical therapist in L.A., who works with him, is super happy. Niners are happy. I’m happy.”
Kittle tore his right Achilles during a Jan. 11 playoff game against the Eagles. That gave him only eight months for surgery and rehab, prompting an initial fear that Kittle would miss some of the 2026 season.
Dr. Neal ElAttrache performed the surgery on Kittle’s Achilles in Los Angeles the week of the injury, and he told Kittle immediately afterward that Kittle had “a chance” to make it back for Week 1.
“I mean, it definitely ignites something and makes you push for it,” Kittle said. “So, we’re on track; we’re ahead of schedule.”
The long round trip to and from Melbourne, Australia, for the first game complicates Kittle’s timeline, but he calls it “just another challenge.”
Kittle made a seventh career Pro Bowl last season despite playing only 11 regular-season games due to hamstring and ankle injuries.
The narrow gap between the Seahawks and Rams may have been closed, and then some, with this week’s acquisition of defensive end Myles Garrett by L.A.
Meeting with reporters on Wednesday, Seattle quarterback Sam Darnold was asked about the move.
“Myles is a great player,” Darnold said. “Shoot, Jared Verse is a great player as well, but I don’t think we see them until Week 16, so we’ll cross that bridge when we get there.”
He’s right. Arguably the best current rivalry in football won’t be renewed until Christmas, with a prime-time game between the two best teams in the league from 2025.
That gives Darnold and the Seahawks 15 weeks of the regular season to not have to worry about Garrett. After a Saturday, December 19, game at the Eagles, the Seahawks will have six days to get ready for the guy who managed to rack up 23.0 sacks in 2025.
Myles Garrett was so dominant last season that he earned all 50 first-place votes for Defensive Player of the Year. He also won the award in 2023, becoming one of only nine players to win multiple DPOY awards.
Only Aaron Donald, Watt and Lawrence Taylor have more with three each.
In nine seasons, Garrett has earned seven Pro Bowls, five first-team All-Pro honors, the single-season sacks record (23 in 2025) and 125.5 career sacks.
He is only 30, with a lot of career left as he embarks on a new chapter with the Rams.
Garrett wants more despite a near certainty that he will be a first-ballot Hall of Famer.
“I see a position to solidify myself here, as well, among the very greats,” Garrett said at his introductory news conference. “I still have plenty of great years in front of me and being able to cement that legacy, not only as a football city here in L.A., but as an individual and winning DPOY and a Super Bowl or more. Those things are definitely pressing on my mind, and I have a definite bit of urgency to do it and do it right away.”
A Super Bowl ring is the one thing missing from his resume, and Garrett should have chances to accomplish that.
Myles Garrett went from the Browns to the Rams this week. While the AFC North celebrated, the NFC West went to work.
49ers offensive line coach Chris Foerster admitted the trade took him by surprise, prompting him immediately to start watching film of the reigning Defensive Player of the Year.
“I just wanted to remind myself because it kind of came out of left field,” Foerster said Tuesday, via David Bonilla of 49erswebzone.com.
In the 49ers’ 26-8 win over the Browns last season, Garrett had a sack and three quarterback hits. He did not have a sack and only one quarterback hit in the Browns’ 19-17 victory over the 49ers in 2023.
“He made a couple plays, and then you’re like, ‘Let me go back and look at the tape and see what it really was,’” Foerster said. “And he’s a great player. He got after us, yeah, but we did have a plan. The plan was somewhat effective, and so, there’s other ways to do things as well.”
The 49ers play the Rams in Week 1 in Melbourne, Australia, in Garrett’s debut with his new team.
The 49ers were getting a plan ready for Jared Verse. Now, they have to contend with Garrett.
“I think Myles Garrett, he’s an all-time great pass rusher,” Foerster said. “He’s an unbelievable talent, but it’s still an edge rusher that you have to take care of.
“He’s an outstanding football player, and he’s going to be a challenge for us to take care of. But we had a plan last year. You’re going to do the best you can, and everybody has good players, and he’s a great player. And it’s good for them, helps them, and it’ll be a good challenge for us.”
In 2025, Myles Garrett set the single-season sack record. Not many (if any) of his 23.0 sacks happened when the 5-12 Browns had a multi-score lead in the second half of a game.
With the Rams, Garrett should have plenty of chances to chase quarterbacks who are desperate to move the ball through the air late in a losing effort.
“That did play into the decision as well,” Garrett told reporters on Tuesday. “Knowing I’ll have the ability late in games to pin my ears back, not just because we need a play to be made, but because we have the lead and it’s obvious passing downs. Being able to make plays to win the game for us, those are things that appeal to me and I’m sure appeal to all of us as D-linemen. That is something I really look forward to.”
It should happen. The Rams have a great offense. The defense should be better in 2026. They should be in position, on a somewhat regular basis, to let Garrett turn himself loose in an effort to chase (and possibly pass) the record he set last year, in his final stint with the Browns.
