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Ricky Pearsall Wants the 49ers to See him as a Starting Wide Receiver

Pearsall is the future at the wide receiver position for the 49ers.

Grant Cohn

Jan 5, 2025; Glendale, Arizona, USA; San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Ricky Pearsall (14) catches a pass as Arizona Cardinals cornerback Starling Thomas V (24) defends in the second half at State Farm Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Matt Kartozian-Imagn Images
Jan 5, 2025; Glendale, Arizona, USA; San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Ricky Pearsall (14) catches a pass as Arizona Cardinals cornerback Starling Thomas V (24) defends in the second half at State Farm Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Matt Kartozian-Imagn Images / Matt Kartozian-Imagn Images
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Ricky Pearsall will have a golden opportunity early this upcoming season.

Brandon Aiyuk most likely will miss at least the first few games as he recovers from a torn ACL, MCL and meniscus. When he returns, he will be a starter assuming he makes a full recovery, which is not a given.

But while Aiyuk is out, Pearsall will start in his place next to Jauan Jennings. And Pearsall will have every opportunity to prove that he belongs in the starting lineup according to offensive coordinator Klay Kubiak.

"Ricky sees himself as a starter," Kubiak said. "He wants to be a starting receiver. And whether BA's out there or not, I think Ricky has that same expectation of himself and that we wouldn't want it any other way. That's how he saw himself last year. And I think that's just how he is naturally."

Pearsall certainly has the talent to be a starting wide receiver -- that's why the 49ers drafted him in Round 1 last year. And while his rookie year partially was derailed after he got shot in the chest, he bounced back and finished the season with 210 receiving yards and 2 touchdown catches in the final two games.

The 49ers need Pearsall to develop into a consistent starter. That's because Jennings will be a free agent in 2026 and Aiyuk might get traded next offseason as well. The 49ers seemed to experience immediate buyer's remorse after extending his contract last year.

Pearsall is the future at the wide receiver position for the 49ers.

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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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