49ers’ Ricky Pearsall To Undergo Season-Ending PCL Surgery

Pearsall is set to undergo a PCL procedure that will wipe out his 2026 campaign, John Lynch said Saturday (via the San Jose Mercury News’ Cam Inman). Rather than hold out hope for a late-season return, Lynch said (via The Athletic’s Matt Barrows) Pearsall is headed to IR now.

This injury dates back to last season, and we had heard earlier this week a surgery was in play. Pearsall is expected to make a full recovery in time for the 2027 season, per ESPN’s Adam Schefter, but his career has drifted well off track since being chosen 31st overall in 2024.

The Samuel signing indeed ties to the Pearsall injury, NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport adds. Pearsall had been ticketed to replace Samuel alongside Brandon Aiyuk in San Francisco. The team’s receiver plan has changed significantly over the past year.

A team that has seen a host of injuries impact key players over the past several years, the 49ers drafted Pearsall months before extending Aiyuk. They then traded Samuel to the Commanders in March 2025. Aiyuk was rehabbing ACL, MCL and meniscus tears at the time, but buyer’s remorse quickly set in when the 49ers voided the high-priced pass catcher’s guarantees last summer.

Aiyuk’s release is now imminent, though the 49ers have dragged this out; the wideout’s strange offseason has not produced a transition from the team’s reserve/left squad list. With Pearsall and Aiyuk out of the picture, Samuel will reprise his role and do so around a new cast of wideouts.

The 49ers signed Mike Evans and Christian Kirk in March before drafting De’Zhaun Stribling in the second round. The team, which lost six-year wideout Jauan Jennings in free agency (to the Vikings), also rosters 2025 contributor Demarcus Robinson. Samuel will play a familiar role, having been a 49er from 2019-24, but he now qualifies as an Evans supporting-caster in a retooled WR cadre. The team had certainly hoped Pearsall would play a central role in its 2026 offense, but those plans have since been scrapped.

Pearsall, 26 in September, has flashed when available for the 49ers. He returned from a gunshot wound as a rookie and cleared 100 receiving yards in two of the 49ers’ first three games last year. But the former Florida and Arizona State target suffered the PCL injury, derailing his strong start. Pearsall missed eight games last season. While he did not land on IR, the young weapon was down for most of the next two months. He returned in Week 11 but missed the 49ers’ regular-season finale and their playoff opener in Philadelphia.

A hamstring issue sidelined Kirk this week as well, continuing an injury spiral at the receiver position for the 49ers. The team is not certain to have George Kittle available for its Australia opener, though the All-Pro tight end is viewed as being ahead of schedule in his ACL rehab. Kittle remains on San Francisco’s active/PUP list.

The 49ers must decide on Pearsall’s fifth-year option by May; based on how his first three seasons have unfolded, it seems unlikely he will earn that fully guaranteed 2028 salary. Pearsall still figures to be heard from as a 49er again, as the team’s post-2026 WR plans beyond Stribling are not known at this point (Evans’ contract is a pay-as-you-go pact). Regardless of the 49ers’ decision next May, Pearsall will be contracted for the 2027 season at a rookie rate. That will be a pivotal year for a talented player.

By placing Pearsall on IR now, the 49ers will shut him down. Had the team carried him through to its 53-man roster when cuts are due later this month, he would have had the option of making a return from IR during the season. But the aggravation of the 2025 injury will prompt the organization to exercise caution in order to have this matter addressed by next year.