The 49ers will need to prepare to be one man short as Ricky Pearsall deals with an injury this week.
49ers fans should be quite accustomed to bad injury news by now. San Francisco has been one of the most snake-bitten teams in the league this year by injuries, with a slew of stars, starters, and key contributors missing significant time.
Unfortunately, that trend continued Sunday, as the 49ers could be without one of their top receivers next Monday night against the Colts.
Second-year wideout Ricky Pearsall exited San Francisco’s 37–24 home win over the Tennessee Titans with knee and ankle injuries, casting doubt on his availability for the upcoming prime-time matchup.
While the 49ers cruised to a comfortable victory, the loss of Pearsall would be another blow to an offense that has struggled to stay fully intact all season.
Pearsall’s ankle injury is believed to be a low-grade sprain, but the bigger concern is that he re-injured his PCL, an issue he has been dealing with throughout the year.
Managing both injuries simultaneously could prove difficult, especially on a short week.
Head coach Kyle Shanahan acknowledged the concern on Monday, noting that Pearsall’s situation is similar to the knee injury backup quarterback Mac Jones has been battling.
“He landed on his knee and that’s a painful thing when you have that,” Shanahan said. “So hopefully, it’s not at all like it was when he first did it, but it does take time for that pain to go away and hopefully that’ll be sooner than later over these next eight days.”
Shanahan added that while the injury is painful, it can calm down with time, though whether that happens quickly enough for Pearsall to play against Indianapolis remains uncertain.
The timing is frustrating, as Pearsall had just started to look like his old self again.
After struggling to produce in his first three games back, totaling just five catches for 20 yards, he broke loose against the Titans with several big downfield plays.
His resurgence came after weeks of scrutiny regarding his lack of production, something Shanahan admitted he was growing tired of hearing about.
“I was getting annoyed too,” Pearsall said after the game.
Before his initial injury in Week 4, the 2024 first-round pick was off to a strong start, recording 20 catches for 327 yards.
Since returning, Pearsall said he’s learned to focus less on statistics and more on his overall impact.
“It’s not about stats,” he said. “It’s about the flow of the game and the impact I can make without the ball in my hands.”
Now, the 49ers can only hope he heals quickly enough for the ball to come his way again down the stretch — and that the injury luck finally starts to turn.