George Kittle Injury Update Clouds Week 1 Fantasy Outlook

There's an unfortunate reality when drafting George Kittle on your fantasy roster, but managers must be prepared for the stud tight end to miss time.

The concern is popping up early this season after head coach Kyle Shanahan reported that Kittle missed 49ers practice on Wednesday with a groin injury. He dubbed the elite pass-catcher as "day-to-day," which does nothing but cloud the playmaker's Week 1 fantasy outlook.

George Kittle Injury Update

According to Shanahan, Kittle picked up the groin issue on Monday. Now, fantasy managers must pay attention to the team's remaining injury reports to close out the week.

George Kittle Fantasy Outlook Week 1

Kittle came in as TE4 in The Duel's Week 1 rankings for PPR leagues, prior to the news of his groin injury. Facing a Bears squad that ranked middle-of-the-pack in Football Outsiders' overall defense DVOA metric last year, Kittle could have gotten off to a quick start.

Although the 49ers are hardly a team that airs the ball out (they had the fourth-highest rush percentage in the NFL last season), Kittle does damage in the red zone. He ranked only one target behind Brandon Aiyuk for the team lead in red zone targets last season (nine) despite playing three fewer games than Aiyuk.

Kittle managers may be in for an early look at the waiver wire if Kittle's status does not improve. Some potential options include Albert Okwuegbunam of the Denver Broncos and David Njoku of the Cleveland Browns.

Okwuegbunam is only rostered in 17.9% of ESPN fantasy leagues despite being TE12 in The Duel's weekly rankings. Njoku is available in more than 50% of ESPN fantasy leagues and is facing a Carolina Panthers squad that was just 18th in pass-defense DVOA last year.

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Adam Taylor McKillop is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Adam Taylor also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username atmckillop. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his personal views, he may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his personal account. The views expressed in their articles are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.