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Realistic Expectations for 49ers WR Ricky Pearsall's Rookie Season

He pulled his hamstring before training camp, returned for a few days and then injured his shoulder. He hasn't practiced since.

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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SANTA CLARA -- Ricky Pearsall may become an excellent wide receiver one day, but don't expect him to do much during his rookie season.

That's partly because he can't stay healthy. He pulled his hamstring before training camp, returned for a few days and then injured his shoulder. He hasn't practiced since.

But even if he were 100 percent healthy, he would be no higher than fourth on the 49ers' wide-receiver depth chart behind Deebo Samuel, Brandon Aiyuk and Jauan Jennings. And the 49ers rarely play their fourth receiver.

Last season, the 49ers' fourth receiver was Ray Ray McCloud. He played 209 offensive snaps and caught 12 passes for a whopping 135 yards and no touchdowns. He was a complete afterthought. And he didn't miss most of training camp due to injury the way Pearsall has.

As things currently stand, if everything were to go Pearsall's way, he most likely would play roughly 250 snaps and catch 15 passes this season. Because he's not the 49ers' fourth receiver. Not yet, anyway. Chris Conley is.

Which means when healthy, Pearsall is the 49ers' fifth receiver. Last year, their fifth receiver was Ronnie Bell, who played 183 snaps and caught just six passes for 68 yards.

Pearsall's only realistic chance to make a big impact on offense is if the 49ers were to trade Brandon Aiyuk, which is beginning to seem unlikely. So if Pearsall is going to contribute, he most likely will have to do so on special teams as a punt returner.

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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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