When the news came out that San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Ricky Pearsall had knee swelling that concerned the team, it was easy for fans to think of the worst-case scenario immediately.
How could you not with the way Pearsall’s career has started? He was shot in San Francisco as a rookie in an attempted robbery. After starting out hot in the first month of the season, a PCL injury sidelined Pearsall for nearly two months. He didn’t recapture that early-season mojo until December before re-aggravating
the injury.
According to Matt Maiocco, the latest on Pearsall “doesn’t look good” in an interview on KNBR:
The PCL is an injury that oftentimes heals on its own. And that was the expectation last year. He injured that thing, came back, kinda re-aggravated it, and he had a difficult time shaking that.
Well, the idea was, or the thought, was that it would heal on its own through the offseason. It doesn’t appear as if that has happened. After the first two days of training camp, which he ran all of the routes. He wasn’t limited in any fashion. He experienced swelling in that knee. And now, it’s kind of back to the drawing board.
If surgery is required, he’s going to miss the season. He’s going to miss the entire season. And I know, even looking at it objectively, you’re like, ‘Gosh, this happened the second day of training camp,’ where the swelling became so bad that they had to back him off and kind of seek medical advice to determine what they’re going to do.
The idea and the reason the 49ers didn’t kind of push the envelope and have him experience the surgery early in the offseason is because the expectation was that it could heal on its own. And if they decided to have the surgery, say in February or March, or whenever, you’re not giving it the full time to recover on its own. But, probably, you’re going to miss the season anyway.
So, I think they made a calculated attempt to hope, I guess, that that thing would heal on its own. And once it didn’t, now it’s time for the 49ers and Ricky Pearsall to decide what they want to do.
Now, I guess if you have that surgery, you’ve got to look ahead. This is his third year in the NFL. If they wait and wait and wait, and try to play through it, maybe the srugery is required. Maybe that cuts into his 2027 season. At this point, I think it’s reasonable, rational, logical, for the 49ers to not expect Ricky Pearsall to make any contribution in 2026.
So, really kind of amplifies how important it was for the team to select De’Zhaun Stribling where they did with the 33rd overall pick. At the time, many people thought it was kind of a luxury pick. But now, it’s looking more and more like a necessity.
It would be difficult to script a worse way for Pearsall’s career to begin if he needs surgery. Pearsall is a high-quality wide receiver who raises the ceiling of the offense. Stribling could be eased in if Pearsall was in the lineup. Teams would theoretically load up on Mike Evans and make a rookie beat them without Pearsall in the fold.
You hope that there is a way for Pearsall to play through the pain and stay on the field in 2026, but the more information that comes out, the less likely it feels that’ll be the case.
