What’s the deal with Ricky Pearsall?
The 49ers drafted him in Round 1 this year. And for the past month, they needed him to step up, considering Brandon Aiyuk is out for the season and Deebo Samuel is playing poorly. And yet, in the 49ers’ past five games, Pearsall has just 2 catches on 9 targets for a mere 21 yards despite playing a whopping 63 percent of the offensive snaps. Which means he’s running lots of routes but not catching many passes.
Keep in mind, Pearsall missed most of training camp with a shoulder subluxation, then he missed the first six games of the season after getting shot in the chest. Next year with a full offseason and no setbacks or near tragedies, he might be much better.
But it’s worth remembering that Pearsall was a bit of a controversial draft pick. He wasn’t considered a first-round prospect. And he was taken ahead of a few wide receivers who were graded higher than him, one of which was Los Angeles Chargers rookie wide receiver Ladd McConkey, who has 65 catches for 873 yards and 5 touchdowns this season.
Entering the draft, McConkey had more hype than Pearsall. That’s because McConkey had been a productive player since his freshman year at Georgia while Pearsall was a late bloomer after transferring from Arizona State to Florida. He also is a year older than McConkey.
In retrospect, the 49ers may have drafted the wrong wide receiver.
