George Kittle throws cold water on talk of early return from injury

San Francisco 49ers star tight end George Kittle had some good news on his road to recovery from the Achilles tear he suffered in the wild card playoffs vs. the Philadelphia Eagles.

Kittle in an appearance with CNBC's Alex Sherman said he's ahead of schedule in his rehab, his surgeon is happy with the progress, and that he will "play a lot of football this season." It turns out "a lot of football" doesn't necessarily mean we'll see the five-time All-Pro in training camp in July.

"Let's not get too far ahead of ourselves," Kittle said when asked about a training camp return. "We'll dip our toes back in a little bit slower than that. But hey, who knows? Miracles have happened."

Kittle slamming the brakes on a training camp return is interesting in light of general manager John Lynch's update from the NFL owners meetings where he indicated Kittle could be back for the season opener. It's hard to imagine the 49ers would let Kittle suit up without getting some amount of training camp in.

Perhaps Kittle just meant to throw water on a return for the start of training camp. Or there's a chance Lynch's timeline was overly optimistic and Kittle could be eyeing a Week 2 or 3 return where camp participation becomes less crucial and he can get some normal practice weeks in before getting back into game action.

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This article originally appeared on Niners Wire: 49ers injury news: George Kittle not likely back for training camp