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How the 49ers Will Use Ricky Pearsall in 2024

Barring injury or trade, Ricky Pearsall won't have a role in the 49ers offense this season.

Grant Cohn

May 10, 2024; Santa Clara, CA, USA; San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Ricky Pearsall (14) runs drills during the 49ers rookie minicamp at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, CA. Mandatory Credit: Robert Kupbens-USA TODAY Sports
May 10, 2024; Santa Clara, CA, USA; San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Ricky Pearsall (14) runs drills during the 49ers rookie minicamp at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, CA. Mandatory Credit: Robert Kupbens-USA TODAY Sports / Robert Kupbens-USA TODAY Sports
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Barring injury or trade, Ricky Pearsall won't have a role in the 49ers offense this season.

That's not a knock on him. The 49ers simply have two top 10 wide receivers in Brandon Aiyuk and Deebo Samuel. They also have a slot receiver in Jauan Jennings whom they just gave a contract extension. Plus they have the highest-paid fullback in the NFL -- Kyle Juszczyk.

As it stands, Juszczyk and Jennings will have to share snaps -- they rarely will be on the field together. Which means there simply won't be any offensive snaps left over for Pearsall this year. But that doesn't mean he won't play.

When Deebo Samuel inevitably gets hurt and misses games as he has done every season since high school, Pearsall probably will start in his place, because he's a better fit at flanker than Jennings who's a pure slot receiver. But outside of those few games, Pearsall won't play wide receiver.

Instead, Pearsall most likely will be the primary punt returner.

The 49ers have to find a way to get Pearsall on the field to justify his first-round selection and he has experience returning punts. He's surehanded and he's elusive in the open field even if he's not particularly explosive. The 49ers just want someone solid and dependable. That's Pearsall.

Remember, their previous punt returner, Ray Ray McCloud, was explosive, but he also fumbled in the Super Bowl because he tried to scoop and run with a muffed punt instead of diving on it and securing it. Pearsall shouldn't make that mistake.

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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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