Niners WR Ricky Pearsall is sitting out of Wednesday's practice because of swelling in the same knee he injured last season, according to multiple reports. The PCL injury in that knee cost him eight games, including some late season aggravations.
What They're Saying: Be Concerned
Matt Maiocco of NBC Sports Bay Area: "WR Ricky Pearsall has knee swelling that the 49ers say is related to the PCL injury he had last season. He's being evaluated."
ESPN's Nick Wagoner: "Team says 'all options' are being explored and there is some 'concern.'"
Injury History: 2025 Included Multiple PCL Tweaks
It might be too early to hit full panic mode on Pearsall, but this is worse news than if he had simply come down with a new injury.
Pearsall suffered the initial injury in Week 4 last season and sat out until Week 11. He then aggravated the injury in Week 15, missed Week 16, returned for Week 17, but then missed the regular-season finale and playoff opener.
Pearsall did return for the second-round loss at Seattle and participated this spring, but he's clearly not past last year's injury. "All options" seems fairly scary as the level consideration at this stage.
2026 Fantasy Football Impact: Active or Not, There's Reason to Worry
For drafting purposes, we can probably treat this as full-panic.
Even if Pearsall elects to play through it, how high a performance level can we reasonably expect -- especially from a guy who has only appeared in 20 of a possible 34 regular-season contests so far in the NFL?
Bills TE Dalton Kincaid gave us samples over the past two seasons of what it can look like for a guy to play through a PCL injury. The two injuries likely aren't the same, but playing wide receiver (or tight end) on an ailing knee ligament has to be pretty difficult.
We'll watch for official decisions on Pearsall's participation outlook. If you're drafting now, though, he should be no more than a late-draft flier.
Other Winners & Losers: Buy the Rookie?
Pearsall's absence for any amount of time would help the opportunity outlook for second-round pick De'Zhaun Stribling.
The rookie has already garnered praise from his QB, and the team clearly liked him enough to make Stribling the first pick of Round 2.
Expect the rookie's ADP to keep climbing, but he's interesting anywhere from Round 12 on at the moment.
Injury situations for WR Christian Kirk and TE George Kittle as well only deepen the pool of available target share.
