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MELBOURNE, Australia — San Francisco defensive coordinator Raheem Morris said defensive end Nick Bosa will play in the 49ers’ season opener against the Los Angeles Rams on Thursday.
“Nick Bosa is going (to play),” Morris said Tuesday in Australia (late Monday in the U.S.). “He’ll be there. We’re not hiding that.”
Star tight end George Kittle, who is recovering from a torn Achilles tendon suffered in January, also appears likely to play Thursday, though his workload has not yet been determined.
“We’ve got to see how he gets through the rest of the week — we’ve got two more practices — but Kittle looks good,” offensive coordinator Klay Kubiak said. “Super impressed with how he’s looked considering the injury and how quick he got back on the field.”
Both had been tracking toward playing, including being on the 49ers’ 16-hour flight from San Francisco. Morris’ comment was the most definitive statement yet that Bosa would return to action for the first time since tearing his ACL in Week 3 last season, despite missing all but a handful of practices this summer due to tendinitis in his surgically repaired right knee.
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Last Wednesday, the eight-year veteran said he was confident he would be ready to face the Rams.
“We’re taking it one day at a time, but today was a great day,” Bosa said. “You put in so much work, and you think you’re coming back … and then you’re not … and then you’re back. … The workouts every day are just monotonous. But you realize why you do it when you’re around the guys, and you truly feel like you’re part of the brotherhood.”
Bosa’s injury last year resulted in his third ACL surgery and his second on his right knee, dating to high school. This would not be the first (or second) time he’s played in a season opener despite being limited in the run-up to the game. He did so because of injuries as a rookie in 2019 and a contract dispute in 2023.
“Nick’s pretty blessed with tremendous genes and was going along great,” 49ers general manager John Lynch said last week. “When he upped the activity, he got sore, so he backed off, and we put together a really good plan that we believe will have him ready for Australia.”
Morris had some trepidation about another defensive end, rookie third-rounder Romello Height, because he’s missed some recent practices with an ankle injury and because he’s so new to the NFL.
He didn’t have the same concerns about Bosa, given the veteran’s experience in similar situations.
“Bosa knows his body as well as anybody. He’ll be prepared and ready to go as well as anybody,” Morris said. “(I have a) very high confidence level of where he’s going to be.”
Even with Bosa playing, the 49ers are thin at defensive end. In addition to Height’s injury, Sam Okuayinonu — who started 12 games last season — could miss all of 2026 after breaking his foot in practice last week. Mykel Williams won’t be able to play until Oct. 12 against the Seattle Seahawks after starting the season on the physically unable to perform list while recovering from his own torn ACL.
For depth, the 49ers signed Khalid Kareem off the Atlanta Falcons’ practice squad, starting a whirlwind trip for the defensive end to San Francisco for a physical and then to Australia to join the team in Melbourne.
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