Getty Image / Lachlan Cunningham
Ricky Pearsall was supposed to be making his San Francisco 49ers debut Monday night in their Week 1 tilt against the New York Jets. The first-round pick should’ve been a piece of a diverse 49ers offense for Head Coach Kyle Shanahan.
Those plans were shattered when Pearsall was shot in an attempted robbery in San Francisco and needed to be hospitalized. Thankfully, due to some heroic work by first responders and some luck, Pearsall survived being shot in the chest and will make a full recovery.
On Monday, he reunited with those first responders who saved his life in a touching moment at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California.
Ricky Pearsall embraces the first responders who helped save his life ❤️ pic.twitter.com/YBpVMcZBH2
— ESPN (@espn) September 10, 2024
Pearsall was shot in the chest, but luckily the bullet passed straight through him without hitting any major organs. I’m not a doctor, but it seems pretty lucky that a bullet passes through the chest without causing major damage.
A year ago, Ricky Pearsall wasn’t thought of as a first-round pick, but a big senior season at Florida changed that. He had 965 receiving yards on 65 catches for a pretty bad Gator offense. Then, a standout performance at the NFL Combine highlighted by a 4.41 40-yard dash and a 42-inch vertical leap helped him sneak into the first-round as the 49ers selected him 31st-overall.
While his role this season is unlikely to be huge, with Christian McCaffrey, George Kittle, Deebo Samuel, and Brandon Aiyuk ahead of him in terms of skill guys they need to get the ball to, he should be a big piece down the road for the 49ers.