Ricky Pearsall
San Francisco 49ersRicky Pearsall is a WR for the San Francisco 49ers on a deal paying $3.1M a year through 2027, a $3.4M cap hit in 2026 (updated November 6, 2026).
Model Score by season
A career-high 72.7 this season, up from 71.4.
How good he is at what he is supposed to be doing, out of 100. Not a projection of what he will do next, and not a read on his contract. Median is about 70, and a 95 is rare. How it is built →
STM Take
A first-round receiver still stuck as the third option.
The case for
- Florida senior 65-catch, 965-yard line plus 1st-round draft slot establishes a real ceiling profile. Wk 3 2025's 19.7 PPR confirms starter-grade single-game output is available.
- Survived a chest gunshot wound in August 2024 and was back on the field within six weeks. The mental and physical resilience is real.
The worry
- Two straight tier 8 finishes (#77 and #60) for a 1st-round pick is concerning. Four sub-4 PPR games in his 2025 sample (1, 2.8, 3.4, 8.6) is the typical WR3 floor pattern.
- Behind Brandon Aiyuk and Deebo Samuel he is permanently a WR3 in the rotation. Aiyuk's contract expiration and Deebo's annual trade-rumor cycle are the only paths to a target share expansion.
What to watch: Whether the 49ers move on from Deebo Samuel or Brandon Aiyuk in 2026, because Pearsall's target ceiling depends on one of those slots opening up.
Full take and bio
The 2025 #60 (tier 8) finish is the second straight bottom-third ranking for a 1st-round pick, which is not the rookie-contract trajectory teams want. The Wks 15 and 17 spikes (15.6 and 13.5 PPR) plus the Wk 3 19.7 show the talent is real, but the floor weeks (Wk 11 1, Wk 12 2.8, Wk 13 3.4) confirm the role has not stabilized behind Brandon Aiyuk and Deebo Samuel. The 2026 trajectory depends on either an Aiyuk/Deebo health setback or his own role expansion.
Pearsall came out of Florida (after transferring from Arizona State) as San Francisco's 1st-round pick (31st overall) in 2024 after a 65-catch, 965-yard senior season. He was shot in the chest during an attempted robbery in San Francisco on August 31, 2024, less than two weeks before the season opener, and missed the first six weeks of his rookie year. His 2024 finish (tier 8 #77) reflected the disrupted rookie season, and the 2025 #60 (tier 8) finish came with a starter-grade Wk 15 and Wk 17 (15.6 and 13.5 PPR) sandwiching a four-week stretch of single-digit production.
Comps
The players whose size, testing and production looked most like his at the same point in their careers. The percent is how close.
Brandon Aiyuk ’2179%Nate Burleson ’0478%Reggie Brown ’0774%Anthony Gonzalez ’0767%
Torrey Smith ’1166%Plays like: David Givens, Donald Hayes, Andre Johnson. Built like: Zay Jones, Reggie Brown, Taywan Taylor. Coming out: Denarius Moore, Odell Beckham Jr., Tiquan Underwood.
Of his 20 closest coming out: 1 star, 9 starters, 7 backups, 3 didn't stick.
Ricky Pearsall Injury StatusNot listed
Ricky Pearsall is not on the injury report as of Nov 6. Source: the official NFL injury report, refreshed daily.
This season
0 fantasy points a game. Every game on the Game Log, every season on Career. Advanced numbers are EPA and Next Gen Stats.
Contract2026 cap
Every year of the deal, the dead money and what a cut or trade saves on the Contract tab.
Draft & College
Round 1, pick 31 to the San Francisco 49ers in 2024, out of Florida (SEC). He went earlier than consensus.
In college, 2019-2023, 46 games: 151 rec, 2,347 yds, 13 TD, 15.5 yds/rec.
Recruited
Class of 2019 · Receiver · High school: Corona del Sol, Tempe, AZ
His full list of offers is not on our record yet; offers for the 2019 class are still being added.