The San Francisco 49ers are expecting former first-round pick Ricky Pearsall to take a major step forward this season after trading Deebo Samuel to the Washington Commanders for draft considerations.
While he may still wind up filling that role perfectly once the 2025 regular season kicks off, the former Florida Gators standout has, once again, run into issues that will keep him off the field for an unknown duration of time.
Fortunately, this injury issue isn't as serious as what Pearsall went through last August after being shot in an attempted robbery. However, football fans know just how tricky hamstring injuries can be, and that is what the second-year wide receiver is dealing with now, per Matt Maiocco of NBC Sports Bay Area.
Pearsall Tweaks Hamstring at Start of 49ers' OTAs
Pearsall will have plenty of time to recover from this hamstring injury before any meaningful games are played. However, missing all of OTAs when Pearsall was expected to take a major step forward in terms of his usage and importance to the offense makes any missed time on the practice field concerning.
With Pearsall now nursing this hamstring injury, and Brandon Aiyuk still working his way back to the field from the torn ACL and MCL he suffered on Oct. 20, 2024, against the Kansas City Chiefs, Jauan Jennings is the only projected first-team wide receiver on the field at OTAs.
While starting quarterback Brock Purdy is familiar with all of these targets already, this is the time of year when you work out the kinks and set yourself up for success in the fall. The Niners are missing out on that opportunity now with two of their three top receivers down.
After finishing dead last in the NFC West last season, San Francisco is out to send a message to the rest of the league that they are still a force to be reckoned with. This injury to Pearsall will only make the work the Niners' offense puts in during training camp that much more important, as they are missing out on key reps.