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Will Ricky Pearsall Return Punts for the 49ers?

The 49ers drafted him in Round 1 but he won't play much on offense this year because the 49ers still have Brandon Aiyuk, Deebo Samuel and Jauan Jennings. So Pearsall has to do something. And he has experience returning punts.

Grant Cohn

May 10, 2024; Santa Clara, CA, USA; San Francisco 49ers rookie 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 rookie 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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The 49ers need someone to replace Ray Ray McCloud as the starting punt returner.

McCloud fumbled a punt in the Super Bowl because he tried to scoop it up and run with it rather than fall on it. Of course, the ball bounced off his hands and the Chiefs recovered deep in 49ers territory and a month later the 49ers let McCloud sign with the Falcons. See ya.

So who will return punts for the 49ers this season?

Rookie wide receiver Ricky Pearsall is a prime candidate. The 49ers drafted him in Round 1 but he won't play much on offense this year because the 49ers still have Brandon Aiyuk, Deebo Samuel and Jauan Jennings. So Pearsall has to do something. And he has experience returning punts.

Last season at Florida, Pearsall returned 11 punts for 126 yards, which means he averaged 11.5 yards per punt return. That's a first down every time he returns a punt. That's terrific.

The 49ers also could ask fellow rookie wide receiver Jacob Cowing to return punts considering he's faster than Pearsall. But last season, Cowing averaged just 5.9 per punt return, which is beyond awful. He doesn't seem to have the knack to return punts.

I'm guessing the 49ers will go with Pearsall mostly because he's sure-handed. Remember, McCloud is off the team because he muffed a punt in the Super Bowl. Pearsall has extremely strong hands. So if nothing else, he should be able to catch the ball and hang onto it.

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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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