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San Francisco 49ers tight end George Kittle believes the changes he made to his offseason training plan will pay off later in the year.
Kittle weighed just 214 pounds after core surgery. He not only had to adjust his training program to accommodate his recovery, but also get back to his usual playing weight. In San Francisco, his weight is reported to be 250 pounds.
“This process has been strange for me, but looking back, I think it’s really going to benefit me,” Kittle told ESPN’s Nick Wagoner. “It’s going to protect my body from wear and tear.”
Even simply being healthy could be a huge benefit to the five-time Pro Bowler. He missed just one game in 2023 and finished with 65 pass catches for 1,020 yards and six touchdowns. The performance was all the more impressive considering he believes he spent about half the year with the core injury.
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Kittle reveals he played for about 10 weeks with a core muscle injury that required surgery during the offseason 💪 pic.twitter.com/axCQs23FVv
For a long time, durability was Kittle’s biggest problem.
The 30-year-old has not played a full regular season since 2018. While 2020 was the only year in this phase in which he missed more than three games, he has a Number of injured that accumulate over time.
Maybe Kittle has found a formula that will help him be more durable on the field, something that 49ers fans and fantasy football managers would love to hear.
