When it comes to the 2024 NFL season, few players had as many “Welcome to the NFL” moments as rookie San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Ricky Pearsall.
Originally selected with the 31st overall pick back in April, Pearsall had to go through the transition from the college ranks to the pros, was literally shot, and had to learn on the fly while getting back into NFL shape, leading to a slow start when he finally took the field. Still, Pearsall appeared in 11 games with four starts and went out on a high note to close out the campaign, catching 14 of the 18 balls thrown his way for 210 yards and two touchdowns over the final two games of the year.
Asked to evaluate Pearsall's year in their end-of-season media session, Kyle Shanahan and John Lynch celebrated the collegiate Gator for overcoming adversity as a first-year pro, as he really came through for his team.
“I thought Ricky Pearsall had an unbelievable season,” Shanahan told reporters. “I mean, I know the gunshot wound is the biggest obviously, but I've never had a rookie player miss all of OTAs and training camp and have much of a successful rookie year. It's tough to do that. For him to do that and then get into Week One, which I knew he would be way behind because of that situation and then get a gunshot wound kind of made me think that we were going to get nothing from him, just in terms of how could we and how hard that would be on him. But how quick he came back from that and then when he did, just to watch him go through rookie things in a live NFL game and then having to watch him come back from that stuff throughout the year and still hit a rookie wall without a foundation of an offseason and stuff like that, I thought it was a huge success for him this year.”
Lynched chimed in, too, noting that he was impressed by how Pearsall handled such a tough situation.
“I'd agree. You have these exit interviews, and you always take away impressions,” Lynch told reporters. “And the coolest thing, some of these rookies are typically they're just done. You think about it, long college year, right to Combine training, you get drafted, you go OTAs, all that. Ricky, one thing he said to me, ‘Mr. Lynch, I just want to keep playing because I feel like I'm just getting my feet underneath me.' So that's really cool that he has that excitement and he's going to use that. I said, now the key is you use that to motivate you through this offseason. And the best players, they don't ever take a rest. They shutter down the intensity and things like that, but they never rest. And so, his mindset I can tell is right. He's a really good football player. Proud of the way he handled a lot of adversity, things that nobody could anticipate and work through it. And I think we're going to have a really good football player.”
In a year where rookies like Brock Bowers, Brian Thomas Jr., and Ladd McConkey all had incredible campaigns, Pearsall finishing out the season with just 400 yards might look somewhat underwhelming for fans who only really follow the stats. But to get 400 yards and three touchdowns in a season where a player was literally shot? Ricky Pearsall certainly deserves his flowers for that one.
