San Francisco 49ers tight end George Kittle missed practice on Wednesday due to some calf soreness. No big deal. It's just one practice, and Kittle is often allowed to sit out one session a week.
Then the 49ers star missed practice again today, and now everyone is starting to question whether or not he will be available for Sunday's divisional battle with the Seattle Seahawks.
General manager John Lynch joined KNBR this afternoon and provided an update on Kittle.
"With George, you guys see it, I think we all see it; he pours so much into each and every play, and he plays a lot," Lynch said on the Tolbert, Krueger & Brooks show. "I think the combination of that, at times, he sells out. He's got a calf that's a little tight, and he's working through that. But George usually rings the bell and shows up, and you can't take that for granted.
"We're hopeful that we have him [on Sunday], and we certainly need him. He's a tremendous player, as we saw the other night and have seen so many times."
Lynch was asked more about the current situation with Kittle. Is this a scenario where the tight end might be willing to play, but the team has to hold him back to prevent further injury?
"I think it's always kind of a collective effort," Lynch responded. "We'll never put him out there when he could do harm, and we feel like we're in a situation where, because he's compromised or whatever, we won't do that. I think that's why he's missed the last couple of days of practice.
"We're hopeful to get him out there doing some things tomorrow, but George is a hard guy to keep off the field. But we'll always do right by him and do right by our team by helping him with that call. But we also know him well enough that his instinct is always going to be to play."
You can listen to the entire conversation with Lynch below.