49ers' Ricky Pearsall comments on recovering from gunshot wound

San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Ricky Pearsall expects to get a full offseason of work in, a luxury he did not have last year when he suffered a gunshot wound late in training camp.

Pearsall offered a brutally honest take on what it was like to recover from such an unusual injury last year. The second-year wide receiver did not have much of a chance to get himself up to speed as a rookie because the gunshot caused him to miss the 49ers’ first six games.

“I just felt like I was behind the eight ball,” Pearsall said, via the Associated Press. “I like to say that I rolled out of bed and started running routes because I damn near did. You can’t really rehab a gunshot wound. So I basically rolled out of bed and started running routes in Week 7. … From that Week 7 and on, that was my training camp. Those practices in between, before the games, that was my training camp, for me.”

Pearsall was wounded in a botched robbery attempt in San Francisco late last August. Remarkably, he was back in the gym days later, and his inability to get back to work immediately was clearly frustrating to him. As he said, there is no real rehab process for a wound like that.

Despite missing a large chunk of the season, Pearsall still managed 31 catches for 400 yards and three touchdowns. He is in line for a bigger role in San Francisco’s offense in 2025, particularly after the departure of Deebo Samuel to Washington and with Brandon Aiyuk still recovering from his own serious injury.