This Sunday, the San Francisco 49ers start their 2025 season on the road against the Seattle Seahawks. There are quite a few questions surrounding the 49ers offense this season, even more so now that Christian McCaffrey suffered a calf injury in practice this week.
Even with those questions, there are a few interesting fantasy matchups going into the game.
Most notably, who amongst San Francisco's wide receivers, if anyone, is going to find success against the Seahawks formidable corner back duo of Tariq Woolen and Devon Witherspoon? Let’s look at where the Niners receiver group currently stands to see if we can answer that question.
With Deebo Samuels gone, and Brandon Aiyuk still rehabbing his 2024 ACL tear, that leaves Rickey Pearsall and Jajuan Jennings as the two main boundary targets for San Francisco.
We’ve previously written about Pearsall’s prospects for the season, but where do they stand for Sunday?
The answer to that question hinges largely on the health of Jajuan Jennings. Jennings dealt with two issues all camp: a contract dispute and a calf injury. With the contract issue settled for the season, all eyes turn towards his calf.
While he was a partial participant in practice Thursday, there’s been no official declaration about his status for Sunday. With the 49ers being notoriously tight-lipped about such issues, we may not know for sure until right before kickoff.
As this pertains to Rickey Pearsall, there are obviously two possible outcomes. Either Jennings plays, taking away some of Seattle's secondary’s attention. Or he doesn’t play, and the Seahawks are able to zero in on Pearsall as the only real threat at wide receiver.
As mentioned above, if Jennings plays, he’ll require a good bit of attention from Seattle. After averaging 5.8 catches and 63.4 yards per game over the last nine contests of 2024, he’d be the most established wide receiver for San Francisco.
While Jennings would also accumulate quite a few looks from 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy, it would free up more space for Rickey Pearsall. To put it more succinctly, the quantity of Pearsall’s targets wouldn’t be as high as they would be with Jennings off the field, but the quality of those targets would likely be better.
Conversely, if Jennings doesn’t play, Pearsall would likely be the main focus of the Seahawks secondary. However, he would also likely be the main focus of Purdy’s boundary efforts. Efficiency may not be within reach in that citation, but the volume of targets would likely make up for it.
There’s naturally going to be trepidation about starting Ricky Pearsall this week. Seattle has a fantastic cornerback duo and the status of Jennings is unclear. But no matter who else lines up at receiver for San Francisco on Sunday, Pearsall is likely to be a solid WR3 with WR2 upside.