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George Kittle and Fred Warner Miss 49ers Practice For 2nd Day in a Row

I would be surprised if either player were to suit up this Sunday. The risk simply doesn't justify the reward this early in the season.

Grant Cohn

Feb 4, 2023; Paradise, NV, USA; NFC tight end George Kittle (85) and NFC linebacker Fred Warner of the San Francisco 49ers (54) during practice at Allegiant Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images
Feb 4, 2023; Paradise, NV, USA; NFC tight end George Kittle (85) and NFC linebacker Fred Warner of the San Francisco 49ers (54) during practice at Allegiant Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images / Kirby Lee-Imagn Images
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SANTA CLARA -- The 49ers might not have two of their best players this weekend when they face the Arizona Cardinals

Both George Kittle (ribs) and Fred Warner (ankle) skipped practice for the second consecutive day, which means their status for Sunday's game is very much in question. Both players suited up for practice and wore pads and a helmet, but neither one participated in individual drills with their position groups. Instead, they ran next to the field with the other injured players.

After a roughly half an hour of calisthenics, Warner walked off the field, through the weight room and out toward the locker room. Then when team drills began, Kittle walked off the field and sat down next to a trainer. That was the last portion of practice the media was permitted to watch. So it's possible Kittle and Warner joined their teammates on the field eventually, but highly unlikely. We'll find out more when the 49ers release their practice report for the day.

Neither Warner nor Kittle needs to practice to play in a game -- they're both All Pros. If they're healthy, they can play. But do the 49ers really need to rush those two back onto the field if they're not 100 percent healthy just to beat the 1-3 Arizona Cardinals? Can't the 49ers take care of business without these two banged-up veterans?

I would be surprised if either player were to suit up this Sunday. The risk simply doesn't justify the reward this early in the season.

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Grant Cohn
GRANT COHN

Grant Cohn has covered the San Francisco 49ers daily since 2011. He spent the first nine years of his career with the Santa Rosa Press Democrat where he wrote the Inside the 49ers blog and covered famous coaches and athletes such as Jim Harbaugh, Colin Kaepernick and Patrick Willis. In 2012, Inside the 49ers won Sports Blog of the Year from the Peninsula Press Club. In 2020, Cohn joined FanNation and began writing All49ers. In addition, he created a YouTube channel which has become the go-to place on YouTube to consume 49ers content. Cohn's channel typically generates roughly 3.5 million viewers per month, while the 49ers' official YouTube channel generates roughly 1.5 million viewers per month. Cohn live streams almost every day and posts videos hourly during the football season. Cohn is committed to asking the questions that 49ers fans want answered, and providing the most honest and interactive coverage in the country. His loyalty is to the reader and the viewer, not the team or any player or coach. Cohn is a new-age multimedia journalist with an old-school mentality, because his father is Lowell Cohn, the legendary sports columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle from 1979 to 1993. The two have a live podcast every Tuesday. Grant Cohn grew up in Oakland and studied English Literature at UCLA from 2006 to 2010. He currently lives in Oakland with his wife.

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