George Kittle Will Play Against the Cardinals

This is a mistake.

The 49ers season is over, they have nothing left to play for and yet they're going to play George Kittle Saturday against the Arizona Cardinals. Heaven forbid he were to suffer a serious injury during a meaningless game.

On Thursday, head coach Kyle Shanahan explained his decision to activate Kittle.

SHANAHAN: "He looked great this week. Just talked to him. Said he felt good here after practice so I'm expecting him to go."

Q: What are you expecting to see out of Kittle and why risk any consequential injuries with him at this point?

SHANAHAN: "Because he's in the same situation every single other person is on our roster. And he's probably one of the healthiest guys we have right now. The freshest. Had two good weeks of practice. Feels great after it. We wouldn't put him out at all if there were any risk of reinjuring this or he wasn't healed. But we have a lot of guys going out there, and everyone has stuff on the line every time they step out, whether you have two games left and you're not in the playoffs or whether it's the first game of the year -- that's what these guys do. And if they're healthy enough to do it, that's what you do on our team."

Q: In terms of Kittle's workload, will there be a snap count for him?

SHANAHAN: "Yeah, we have an idea in our mind. I'm not going to give you the number, because you guys will hold us to it way too hard. He's in great shape and he's conditioned very well, but he hasn't played football in a while, so we have to be smart with that. We don't expect him to go in there and play 95 percent of the plays like he usually does. We'll be smart with him. We'll see how he goes. I know he's excited to get out there and play some. I know our team is real excited to have him out there. But it won't be his usual deal."

Might I suggest zero snaps?