George Kittle, Jeff Wilson, Robbie Gould return to 49ers practice in Week 9

Friday update: There is a chance that Jeff Wilson could be activated for Week 9, per GM John Lynch.

Wednesday update: As expected, the 49ers will have Kittle, Wilson, and Gould all back at practice on Wednesday, per Kyle Shanahan. They will not appear on the practice participation report because they are still on injured reserve and do not need to be officially activated until Saturday afternoon.

The San Francisco 49ers are slowly welcoming back some key weapons as they begin preparations to face the Arizona Cardinals in Week 9. Head coach Kyle Shanahan said on Monday the team will open the practice windows for tight end George Kittle, running back Jeff Wilson, and kicker Robbie Gould, per Niners Nation.

Kittle is the most important of that group for the 49ers offense. He is a key in both receiving and blocking. Of course, he’s also on most fantasy rosters at this point, so he’s not somebody you’re going to be claiming off waivers anytime soon.

The most intriguing of that group is Jeff Wilson. Elijah Mitchell has emerged as the 49ers starting running back with Raheem Mostert out for the year and Trey Sermon a disappointment in his rookie season. But Wilson could very well swoop in and scoop up the job at some point. At the very least he is likely to cut into Mitchell’s fantasy value. This will be a situation to watch in the coming week.

It sounds unlikely that we’ll see Wilson playing this weekend, per Matt Barrows, and you’re probably safe assuming it will be at least a couple weeks. Kittle hasn’t played since Week 4, but it’s been a closer enough time-frame that we might see him back sooner than later. The 49ers have until Saturday to activate any of these three off injured reserve.