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49ers HC Kyle Shanahan Says Ricky Pearsall is “Doing a Hell of a Job”

Ricky Pearsall has been one of the most disappointing first-round picks in the NFL this season. Despite his meager production, head coach Kyle Shanahan remains encouraged.

 Ricky Pearsall has been one of the most disappointing first-round picks in the NFL this season.

To be fair, he missed the first six games after getting shot in the chest. And in his first few games, he looked promising. But in the 49ers’ past five games, he has just 2 catches on 9 targets for just 21 yards.

Despite his meager production, head coach Kyle Shanahan remains encouraged by Pearsall.

“I think Ricky’s doing a hell of a job,” Shanahan said on Wednesday. “I know everyone talks about the gunshot wound, but what people don’t realize is, I think I said a couple weeks ago, but he only had three practices before that gunshot wound. He missed all OTAs and all of training camp and then to get that gunshot basically went from Florida to us halfway through the season. So, I thought he did a hell of a job coming back from that, trying to learn and practice as he goes. He’s been banged up a little bit, started in Green Bay. I think he’s fought through that here the last couple weeks. I thought he did some real good stuff on tape last week. He had a couple big catches. I think he’s going the right direction and hope it keeps improving here these next three games.”



Shanahan brings up a good point. Pearsall missing most of training camp probably affected him even more than than gunshot. All Pro wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk also missed training camp and was extremely rusty the first seven weeks of the season before going down with a knee injury. Why wouldn’t Pearsall struggle, too?

Let’s reserve judgment until next year when he goes through a full offseason with the team.