Is George Kittle playing this week? Injury update, fantasy outlook for 49ers' TE ahead of Week 11 vs. Seahwaks

Throughout the season, the story for the San Francisco offense has been overcoming injuries to key weapons in order to win games. Christian McCaffrey has appeared in just one game on the year, Deebo Samuel has missed time with a variety of issues, and Brandon Aiyuk was knocked out for the year in Week 7 after suffering a torn ACL.

The 49ers are getting healthy just in time to make a playoff push. Aiyuk may be out for the year, but McCaffrey, Samuel, Jauan Jennings, and Brock Purdy all have a clean bill of health heading into Week 11. However, you might notice that San Francisco's All-Pro tight end, George Kittle, is not on that list.

Kittle is not stranger to the injury report and he popped up this week with a hamstring issue. Let's check in on the latest updates surrounding his status ahead of Sunday's game against the Seahawks.

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Will George Kittle play this week? Injury update on 49ers' TE

Kittle had been trending in the right direction across this week's practice sessions. He began the week as a non-participant on Wednesday but was upgraded to limited participation in the final two practices of the week.

However, Kittle wasn't quite fresh enough to take part in Sunday's proceedings. The Niners officially ruled their All-Pro tight end out of their matchup with the Seahawks.

Kittle is one of those players who is seemingly questionable more often than not but seemingly always manages to suit up. Considering he was able to get in a few limited practices to end the week, it's easy to understand why people would expect him to be activated for Sunday's duel.

Nevertheless, hamstrings are a fickle muscle. After giving Kittle a chance to see how he was feeling, it seems San Francisco's coaching brass opted to hold him out and attempt to bed him back into the side in Week 12 against the Packers.

Check back here often, where we'll be providing updates on Kittle's status as they become available.

49ers' TE Depth Chart: Who is George Kittle's Backup?

Kittle missed Week 3 with a hamstring issue, so we've already seen how Kyle Shanahan opts to deploy his tight ends in Kittle's absence. In that Week 3 matchup with the Rams, NFL journeyman Eric Saubert operated as nearly a direct replacement for Kittle.

Saubert played 86 percent of snaps in Week 3 and would likely hold a similar role if Kittle can't suit up this week. Considering the talent at running back and wide receiver, Saubert will likely be an afterthought in the 49ers' offensive game plan despite a healthy snap share. Regardless of his receiving output, expect him to be on the field quite often if Kittle doesn't play.

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George Kittle fantasy outlook Week 11

Kittle has been fantasy's most valuable tight ends this season by a wide margin. He's the only tight end averaging over 15 points per game and he provides a legitimate positional advantage to those who have him on rosters.

As long as he's on the field, Kittle will contend for the TE1 ranking each and every week. This week, he was the TE2 Sporting News' TE Rankings, coming in narrowly behind Travis Kelce. With the latest report from Schefter, we've removed Kittle from the rankings. As mentioned above, Eric Saubert will llikely see most of the vacated snaps from Kittle, but we don't expect anywhere close to the production.