49ers hit with crushing injury news on George Kittle, Brock Purdy

SANTA CLARA, Calif. — San Francisco 49ers star tight end George Kittle will miss at least a few weeks with a hamstring injury and quarterback Brock Purdy’s status for this week is in question after he hurt his left shoulder and toe in the season opener.

Coach Kyle Shanahan said the team hasn’t decided yet whether to place Kittle on injured reserve which would sideline him for four weeks or keep him on the active roster in case he can return earlier.

Shanahan said the team is also still waiting to get more tests on receiver Jauan Jennings’ shoulder injury to determine if he needs to miss any time.

An MRI exam came back clean but Jennings still needed to undergo a CT scan.

Purdy’s status remains in question for this week with Shanahan saying that the toe injury is more of a concern than his non-throwing shoulder.

“We’re not sure,” Shanahan said of Purdy’s status for this week. “We have to see how it heals and how the week goes on it.”

Purdy led a game-winning drive on Sunday when he threw a 4-yard TD pass to Jake Tonges with 1:34 to play in a 17-13 win. He went 26 for 35 for 277 yards with two TDs and two interceptions.

Purdy missed two games last season with injuries, sitting out one game with a right shoulder injury and another with a right elbow injury.

If Purdy is unable to play this week at New Orleans, the Niners would turn to Mac Jones. The former first-round pick by New England in 2021 signed with San Francisco as a free agent in March.

Shanahan has been pleased with what he has seen from Jones, who is back healthy after missing time late in training camp with a knee injury.

“I think he’s gotten really used to what we do,” Shanahan said. “He had a little setback there the last couple weeks at camp with the injury that he got. But he had a good week of practice last week, picking up really right where he left off. If he has to go this week, he’ll lead the guys, the guys will believe in him and I know he’ll do his job at a high level.”

Kittle got hurt in the second quarter on Sunday. He had four catches for 25 yards and a TD before the injury. Tonges replaced him and had his first three career catches, including the game-winning TD.

Kittle has dealt with several minor injuries in his career but has played at least 14 games in seven of his eight seasons. He has had four seasons with at least 1,000 yards receiving and led San Francisco with 78 catches for 1,106 yards and eight TDs last season.

San Francisco did reach an agreement Monday to bring back receiver Kendrick Bourne on a one-year worth up to $5 million and he could have a significant role this week with Kittle out and Jennings’ status in question.

Right guard Ben Bartch also had a minor knee sprain in the game and is day to day.

Possible kicker competition?

Shanahan said the team could look at making a possible change at kicker after Jake Moody missed two field goals Sunday. Moody missed a 27-yarder in the first half and had a 30-yarder blocked in the second half, marking the first time in 19 years that the Niners had two misses inside of 40 yards in the same game.

Moody struggled last season after returning from an ankle injury — missing 9 of 14 attempts from at least 40 yards in his final nine games.

The team brought in Greg Joseph as competition in the offseason but cut him early in camp. Shanahan said the team is considering bringing in another kicker this week.

“We’re looking at all that stuff now,” he said. “There’s options. Whether it’s stay the status quo, bringing guys in for a workout, practice squad. But we’re going through all that right now. Just finished with the team and I know the personnel department is going to look into all of that stuff and give us options.”