John Lynch: George Kittle has ‘looked good’ in practices ahead of 49ers-Broncos

The San Francisco 49ers' All-Pro tight end, George Kittle, practiced for the second consecutive day. He appears on track to make his 2022 season debut on Sunday against the Denver Broncos after sustaining a groin injury on September 5.

"Well, George, he's had two good practices, so that's a great thing," general manager John Lynch told KNBR's Tom Tolbert and Adam Copeland. "George, he's got a lot of really special qualities. Number one, he's really good at what he does, and he's a very versatile player in that he's very good in the run game [and] he's very good in the pass game.

"But there is another quality that George brings to this team. He kind of lifts us. He lifts everybody around here because he's a character. But it's real; it's genuine. And he just lifts everybody's spirits with the way he plays. You can tell he loves it out here, and you need guys like that, that lift you, bring up the energy. I think that's been true this week."

The 49ers have one more practice on Friday before traveling to Denver. According to the team's Thursday practice participation report, Kittle was limited, as was the case on Wednesday. We'll see how much work he gets on Friday, a practice that is typically the lightest of the week.

"And so we're excited to have George back in the fold," Lynch continued. "You always want to hang on and make sure things respond well. Thursday's our toughest practice, but he sure looked good out there on the field. Hope to finish off a great week and have George back with us. He's a big part of our core here, and real pleased that he's back and healthy."

The 49ers and Broncos kick off from Empower Field at Mile High on Sunday at 5:20 p.m. PT (6:20 p.m. MT).

You can listen to the entire conversation with Lynch below.