49ers HC Kyle Shanahan on Odds Kittle Returns from Achilles Injury by Week 1

Kyle Shanahan stopped by The Rich Eisen Show and the conversation turned, as it often does, to George Kittle.

Rich asked what it was like to call Kittle as a first year head coach in his first draft to tell the rookie tight end he was a San Francisco 49er. Shanahan smiled at the memory.

The Kittle on the other end of that phone, Shanahan said, was not the Kittle the league knows now. There were no wristbands. No tattoos. A dorky haircut. The personality had not surfaced yet.

Shanahan remembered a moment in week four of Kittle's rookie year. Kittle was hurt. Kittle was telling everyone he was not.

"Dude, we know you're hurt," Shanahan recalled saying. He tried to coach the rookie out of his Pop Warner habits, the trained reflex of never admitting anything to the coaching staff. Kittle was not having it.

"Coach, I'm fine. Don't ask me anything else. I'm fine. There's nothing wrong," the rookie told him.

Shanahan said he could not even talk to him.

Then came year two. Tatted up. Breaking records. Walking into Shanahan's office on his own to share exactly what was going on. The coach said once Kittle realized he could be himself, the team got the real version, and they have gotten that version every year since.

"Nine cool years," Shanahan called it.

The stakes of the conversation were not just nostalgic. Rich asked the question Niners fans actually wanted answered. Does Shanahan see Kittle on the field for week one after the Achilles injury?

Shanahan stopped short of putting it on a calendar.

"I know there's a chance to. I know he's working his butt off to do it," he said. He would not commit to saying Kittle was on track, but he said that is what the tight end is shooting for. And he made it clear he does not bet against the player.

"I don't put anything past Kittle," Shanahan said.

The coach reached for a recent reference point. Jayson Tatum had gotten hurt in the playoffs and was looking strong already, and Shanahan said he had been telling Kittle to do something like that. He believes Kittle will.

This is Shanahan's tenth year. It is Kittle's tenth year too. The coach noted that there are not many guys still in the building from the start, and the ones who are have been some of the best players and best people on the roster. Fullback Kyle Juszczyk got a name check. Shanahan said he expects to be close with these players for the rest of his life.

Rich could not let the tequila reference go. When the injury news first broke, Rich said, he just sent Kittle tequila.

Shanahan laughed and said the same thing crossed his mind. Kittle, he said, might be one of the rare players where tequila actually contributes to the recovery process.

"It's for specific types," Shanahan said.

The coach said he could not wait to get Kittle back. The fans listening were left with a picture of a player working hard on the rehab and a coach who refuses to put a ceiling on him.