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PFF: 49ers WR Ricky Pearsall is Poised for Bigger Role in 2025

People expect big things from Ricky Pearsall this year.
Grant Cohn|
Nov 10, 2024; Tampa, Florida, USA; San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Ricky Pearsall (14) score a touchdown past Tampa Bay Buccaneers safety Antoine Winfield Jr. (31) in the first quarter at Raymond James Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images
Nov 10, 2024; Tampa, Florida, USA; San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Ricky Pearsall (14) score a touchdown past Tampa Bay Buccaneers safety Antoine Winfield Jr. (31) in the first quarter at Raymond James Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images | Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images

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San Francisco 49ers

People expect big things from Ricky Pearsall this year.

He was a first-round pick last year, but he got shot right before the season started, so he didn't have a breakout performance until Week 17 against the Lions. Now, Deebo Samuel is gone and Brandon Aiyuk is recovering from a torn ACL and MCL, and that's why Pro Football Focus believes that Pearsall is poised for a bigger role.

"Pearsall missed the first six weeks of the season after recovering from a gunshot wound to the chest just before Week 1," writes PFF's Ryan Smith. "He had a productive second half of the season after his return, catching 31 of 44 targets for 400 yards and three touchdowns.

"The 49ers traded wide receiver Deebo Samuel to the Washington Commanders in March, creating a path for Pearsall to step into a bigger role in 2025. Samuel graded out no lower than 70.9 in his six years with the team, so San Francisco will be counting on Pearsall to produce in a big way moving forward."

Pearsall will turn 25 in September, so he's not particularly young. And he's injured already. He pulled his hamstring before OTAs even began and the 49ers are holding him out until training camp to be cautious. Last year, he missed most of OTAs and training camp with shoulder and hamstring injuries, so he has to prove he can stay healthy before he can take on a bigger role.

Meanwhile, rookie wide receiver Jordan Watkins has been one of the 49ers' standout performers so far this offseason.

Pearsall has competition.

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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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