George Kittle Injury Updates Keep Getting Worse for 49ers

San Francisco 49ers tight end George Kittle hasn't had the smoothest 2021 NFL season so far. He's been dealing with a calf injury over the past few weeks and it seems to keep getting worse as time goes on. Now, things took a turn for the worst-case scenario.

The 49ers announced Saturday that they are placing Kittle on the injured reserve. That means that San Francisco will be without one of their top pass-catchers for at least the next three weeks.

George Kittle Injury Update

Kittle's IR placement looks like a precautionary move by the 49ers. He's played through the calf injury for as long as he's had it, however, having three weeks to heal should speed up his recovery process. Plus, San Francisco has its bye during Week 6, which means the two-time Pro-Bowler may only miss two games at best.

When Kittle's healthy, he's easily one of the best tight ends in the NFL. Unfortunately, he can't seem to shake the injury bug over the last two seasons. Counting the minimum two games he'll miss going forward, Kittle will have sat out of 10 games since the start of the 2020 season.

The 28-year-old tight end has been moderately productive this year despite his injury issues, catching 19 balls for 227 receiving yards. He's yet to find the endzone and his 67.9% catch rating is his worse since 2018, so it's pretty clear that his injury has somewhat affected his production.

The Kittle-less 49ers are +194 underdogs as they prepare to take on the Arizona Cardinals (-235) this Sunday, according to FanDuel Sportsbook.

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Devon Platana is not a FanDuel employee. The views expressed in his articles are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.