Why the 49ers brought back Ricky Pearsall and Brock Purdy the same week

Ricky Pearsall's season has been a strange one.

He started off hot. Had 108 yards Week 1 against the Seahawks and 117 yards Week 3 against the Cardinals. But Week 4, he injured his PCL and missed the next six games. Didn't even practice those weeks. Instead, all he did was sprint on the side of the practice field and shoot jumpers in the locker room.

When Pearsall initially injured his knee, I asked him how serious it was. He said it was just a little bit of soreness, he wasn't worried about it and if there was a game that day, he would play.

Sep 28, 2025; Santa Clara, California, USA; San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Ricky Pearsall (1) before the game against the — Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images

The 49ers evidently had the same assessment of Pearsall's injury, considering they could have placed him on Injured Reserve for four weeks and signed someone healthy to the 53-man roster but chose not to.

Pearsall's absence coincidentally coincided with Brock Purdy's absence -- both of them got injured Week 4 against the Jacksonville Jaguars. When it was clear that Purdy would make his return Week 11 against the Cardinals, Pearsall abruptly returned to practice for the first time in six weeks and played that Sunday against Arizona.

When I asked head coach Kyle Shanahan why Pearsall hadn't been practicing, he said it's because Pearsall couldn't hit certain speeds while sprinting without feeling discomfort in his knee. He implied that Pearsall would not return to the practice field, let alone a game, until he hit those speeds.

Oct 2, 2025; Inglewood, California, USA; San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan during the second half at SoFi Stadium. — Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

Then, Pearsall made his sudden return last week. And he caught one pass for zero yards. In retrospect, it's possible the 49ers pushed him back onto the field before he was 100 percent recovered.

On Thursday, a reporter asked Shanahan about his decision to play Pearsall against the Cardinals.

"He looked like a healthy Ricky," Shanahan said, "which is why he probably didn't have pain hitting those GPS numbers and why I thought he looked real good in the game. I think it's unfair to these guys, to me, to agree that they're judged off of targets. We try to get quarterbacks who don't throw to people covered. And covered doesn't mean a man-to-man all the time. It means that there's two zoning defenders on you.

Sep 28, 2025; Santa Clara, California, USA; San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Ricky Pearsall (center) catches a pass against — Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images

"And so, if a zoning defender's on one guy, then you move to the next guy and there's no one under and you get completions. I can't remember a time in that game where we went to Ricky and he was covered by the guy guarding him. It was someone underneath. So, I thought Ricky was awesome last week and expect him to be the same, if not better, this week.”

In fairness to Shanahan, Pearsall doesn't need to be 100 percent healthy to play and help the 49ers win. His presence on the field draws the attention of the defense and creates openings for teammates. And he most likely will get healthier as the season goes along.

It's just interesting that the 49ers seem to want Pearsall to play through injury when Purdy is the quarterback and not Mac Jones. I guess Purdy's success is more important.

Read more