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What to Expect from 49ers Wide Receiver Ricky Pearsall in 2025

In 2026, Pearsall might start opposite Brandon Aiyuk.
Grant Cohn|
Dec 30, 2024; Santa Clara, California, USA; San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Ricky Pearsall (14) during the game against the Detroit Lions at Levi's Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Sergio Estrada-Imagn Images
Dec 30, 2024; Santa Clara, California, USA; San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Ricky Pearsall (14) during the game against the Detroit Lions at Levi's Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Sergio Estrada-Imagn Images | Sergio Estrada-Imagn Images

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San Francisco 49ers

Ricky Pearsall nearly had a red-shirt rookie season.

He missed most of the offseason training program with hamstring and shoulder injuries. Then he got shot in the chest mere days before the season opener and missed the first six games. When he finally made his NFL debut, he was behind as one would expect. He hadn't quite mastered Kyle Shanahan's complex offensive system and he often didn't seem to be in the quarterback's progression. He just ran routes.

From Week 11 to Week 15, Pearsall caught a grand total of two passes. Then the 49ers were eliminated from the playoffs, and so Shanahan finally gave Pearsall opportunities to catch passes. And in the final two games, he caught 14 of 18 targets for 210 yards and 2 touchdowns. Finally, he looked like a first-round pick.

So what should we expect from Pearsall in 2025?

He should be the starting Z-receiver opposite Jauan Jennings. But until the 49ers trade or release Deebo Samuel, Pearsall most likely will be the no. 3 receiver on the team even though he's faster than Samuel and Jennings and is a better route runner than them as well.

Eventually, Pearsall will surpass both of them on the depth chart, but maybe not next season when Samuel and Jennings both will be in the final year of their contracts. In 2026, Pearsall might start opposite Brandon Aiyuk. But for now, he's stuck behind some veterans the 49ers have paid big bucks.

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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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