Kyle Shanahan Reveals 49ers Plan At Wr Without Ricky Pearsall

The San Francisco 49ers have been quite banged up with injuries during training camp this offseason, but none were more significant than Ricky Pearsall’s nagging PCL injury that is now expected to cost him the rest of the 2026 season.

Pearsall’s early career has unfortunately been marred by injuries to this point, and his loss is a huge blow for the 49ers, given what they wanted to do on offense this season. It makes sense why.

Pearsall was the one difference in the 49ers receiving room. They had big-bodied threats that could either win at the catch point extremely well (Mike Evans) or work after the catch (De’Zhaun Stribling). Christian Kirk and Deebo Samuel both felt like options that could work better in the short to intermediate range of the field and have the ball in their hands as well.

San Francisco’s 2024 first-round pick hasn’t been that type of player. Instead, Pearsall has been much more of a man-coverage beater, winning on outside routes when facing 1-on-1 coverage, which has been a huge asset for Kyle Shanahan’s offense when the wideout is on the field.

Now, without him, the 49ers are going to have to change up their plans at receiver, which Kyle Shanahan acknowledged on Saturday when talking to the media for the first time since his July car accident.

“Losing Ricky was a real big deal. We’ve had a number of injuries in camp, but that’s really the only one that’s actually been not just a camp injury,” Shanahan said. “Losing a player like Ricky is a huge deal. It ties to everybody. You hope for [De’Zhaun] Stribling, you hope for Mike [Evans], you hope for that whole group. A lot of people have to step up, but no one here is wired exactly how Ricky is. They’re all a little bit different.

“So, you do lose a big part of what we were planning on. That’s where guys do have to step up. That’s what gets frustrating when guys like Stribling tweak a muscle and stuff, because, yeah, you want guys to step up, but you’ve got to train them to do it. They’ve got to work to do it. They’ve got to be out there to be able to do it at an NFL level, which is coming real fast.”

Now, the early indications from camp before Stribling’s recent minor injury were positive, so it seems like he could be ready to contribute sooner rather than later. And Samuel obviously has a good grasp of the offense and should fit in well.

But without Pearsall, the 49ers will have to find different ways to win against man coverage. And that might put even more expectations on Mike Evans, who dealt with an injury-riddled campaign in 2025, and is currently nursing a quad injury.

“Yeah, [Evans’s expectations] depends if he stays healthy,” Shanahan said. “Mike, to me, is always, if you’re a starting receiver, you’re out there a ton, which everyone is. I forget what it was last year, maybe hamstring, where he missed time, and when that happens you miss games.

“But Mike’s going to be a starting receiver here, and we don’t like any of our guys to go every play. We want our guys going full speed, and it’s hard to go full speed every play. So, we’re always going to spell guys. But hopefully, he’s got a little quad right now, which I know Mike probably believes he could be back right now. We’re being smart with him, but he’s going to be good to go.”

The 49ers have consistently produced quality offenses, and they’ll hope that 2026 is the same. But losing Pearsall was certainly a big blow for their passing game.