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The 49ers Officially Open Ricky Pearsall's 21-Day Practice Window

Congratulations, Ricky.

Grant Cohn

Oct 6, 2024; Santa Clara, California, USA; San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Ricky Pearsall walks on the field before the game against the Arizona Cardinals at Levi's Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images
Oct 6, 2024; Santa Clara, California, USA; San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Ricky Pearsall walks on the field before the game against the Arizona Cardinals at Levi's Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images / Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images
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SANTA CLARA -- What a happy ending to a terrifying story.

Ricky Pearsall officially practiced with the 49ers on Monday for the first time since he got shot in the chest in San Francisco on Aug. 31. Which means he has recovered from the gunshot wound and is nearly ready to appear in his first career NFL game.

Congratulations, Ricky.

This ends the first chapter of his career, a chapter that has been filled with nothing but bad luck. Now we'll see what he can do on the field with no setbacks.

The 49ers now have 21 days to activate Pearsall to the 53-man roster. Which means they have to make a decision about him at the latest by Nov. 4 -- one day before the trade deadline. So if they want to activate him, they might trade someone to make space on the roster for him.

Even if the 49ers do eventually activate Pearsall, which is no guarantee considering he got shot less than two months ago plus he had a subluxed left shoulder which he reaggravated multiple times in the offseason, it remains to be seen how much he'll actually play this season. Because the last thing the 49ers currently need is another wide receiver.

The 49ers already are struggling to find enough targets for Brandon Aiyuk, Deebo Samuel and Jauan Jennings. Aiyuk had just two catches in the 49ers' most recent win over the Seahawks. Adding Pearsall to the mix only would take opportunities away from players who deserve more opportunities, not fewer.

I'm guessing Pearsall won't practice this season unless there are multiple injuries to players above him on the depth chart.

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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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