Ricky Pearsall's Knee Issues Are Cause for Concern
Ross Johnston explains why the knee issues that are plauguing 49ers WR Ricky Pearsall are cause for concern in their WR room.
Video Transcript
Well, I usually don't like to get too much into preseason injuries, but the Ricky Pearsall news has me a little bit concerned for the San Francisco 49ers wide receiver room and for Ricky in general.
What's up, y'all?
It's Ross Johnston with ABC Sports, and as you can see, there was news that dropped today that 49ers wide receiver Ricky Pearsall is going to miss some time dealing with a knee injury, some knee swelling that they believe to be an effect of his PCL injury that he dealt with last year that caused him to miss a good amount of time.
Now, I made a video the other day talking about Dejon Stribling and why I think he is an excellent draft pick for the forty-niners and is going to have a big rookie year, and this is even shines more of a light on him because Christian Kirk also has been getting held out of practice with a calf strain that he suffered on Monday.
So the rookie Stribling out of Ole Miss is going to have to step up in a big way and make plays early for this team and prove that he can be out there on the field.
But look, Ricky Pearsall was the first-round pick by the forty-niners in twenty twenty-four, and he's a player with a ton of talent.
He's got a good size, good frame, runs good routes, brings a lot of stuff to the table.
But again, the biggest ability and the most important ability for players is availability.
Ricky Pearsall played eleven games in twenty twenty-four and nine games in twenty twenty-five, and that is not great to start out your NFL career.
And yes, I understand everything that happened with him going into his rookie season.
Obviously, the accident off the field with him getting shot in the chest, very unfortunate.
We're all blessed to have him with us today and that he's still able to play football.
But again, now you got to move on to the future and see what he can really bring to the table.
Now, I don't think the forty-niners wide receiver room is in deep trouble by any means, but it puts more emphasis on these guys like Mike Evans, Dejon Stribling, maybe even a Jacob Cowan or DeMarcus Robinson, to be healthy and to be out there constantly because practice matters.
These training camp reps matter.
The preseason matters.
Joint practices matter.
And again, the forty-niners are doing all of this without their head coach in Kyle Shanahan as he recovers from his car accident.
So at the end of the day, I am not going to panic yet over Ricky Pearsall, but these aren't good signs, and I hope that he's able to take care of his body, get back out there on the field.
At the end of the day, playing in games is the most important thing, but it hasn't been off to a good start for him in terms of his availability.
He brings a lot to the table, and the forty-niners could certainly use him.
Let me know what you think in the comments below.
