{"id":792265,"date":"2026-07-10T22:35:15","date_gmt":"2026-07-10T22:35:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/792265\/"},"modified":"2026-07-10T22:35:15","modified_gmt":"2026-07-10T22:35:15","slug":"disappointing-49ers-wr-called-nfls-biggest-bust-in-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/792265\/","title":{"rendered":"Disappointing 49ers WR Called NFL’s ‘Biggest Bust’ in 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

The San Francisco 49ers<\/a> sent a pretty clear message to wide receiver and 2025 1st-round pick Ricky Pearsall<\/a> with a series of offseason moves.<\/p>\n

That message? Clock\u2019s ticking.<\/p>\n

Pearsall\u2019s failures over his 1st 2 seasons led directly to the 49ers signing free-agent wide receiver Mike Evans<\/a> in March, then using their 1st pick of the 2026 NFL draft on Ole Miss wide receiver De\u2019Zhaun Stribling<\/a>. They also added wide receiver Christian Kirk<\/a> in free agency.<\/p>\n

Bleacher Report\u2019s Moe Moton<\/a> thinks that Pearsall\u2019s struggles will only continue in 2026, predicting he will end up 1 of the NFL\u2019s \u201cBiggest Busts\u201d in his 3rd NFL season.<\/p>\n

\u201cFollowing the 2026 season, the San Francisco 49ers must decide on the fifth-year option in Ricky Pearsall\u2019s contract,\u201d Moton wrote on July 10. \u201cAt this point, they would probably decline it because of his modest production and spotty availability last season. In 2025, Pearsall caught 36 passes for 528 scoreless yards. Even without Brandon Aiyuk<\/a> for an entire season, the 2024 first-rounder didn\u2019t take full advantage of increased opportunities in the aerial attack, partially due to injuries. In his age-33 term, Evans can still command a significant target share. Kirk can see notable playing time as an inside-outside receiver \u2026 head coach Kyle Shanahan values Stribling\u2019s blocking ability. As a former first-round pick, Pearsall may be underwhelming again this year.\u201d<\/p>\n

Flip Side: Ricky Pearsall Could Become Elite NFL WR<\/p>\n

Even though he played in 11 games and finished with 31 receptions for 400 yards and 3 touchdowns as a rookie, there was little to be gleaned from his play coming off a serious injury \u2014 he suffered a gunshot wound before the season.<\/p>\n

In 2025, the 49ers got to see the real Pearsall<\/a>. And it wasn\u2019t pretty. He started the season on the PUP list and ended up missing 8 games due to hamstring and PCL injuries while putting up 36 receptions for 528 yards and didn\u2019t score a touchdown.<\/p>\n

NFL.com\u2019s Nick Shook<\/a> went the other way from Moton. He put the former Arizona State and Florida star on his list of \u201cpotential risers\u201d who could have breakout seasons in 2026.<\/p>\n

\u201cPearsall\u2019s career has known nothing but unexpected interruptions, Shook wrote. \u201d \u2026 San Francisco\u2019s receiving corps certainly could have used more help in 2025 and the club acted accordingly in 2026, luring Mike Evans away from Tampa, signing Christian Kirk and spending the first pick of the second round on De\u2019Zhaun Stribling. Consequently, Pearsall will operate in a deeper receiver room that won\u2019t allow opposing defenses to key on him, setting up the 25-year-old for a breakout season \u2014 provided he can stay on the field.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pearsall\u2019s Stock Went Soaring Before Draft<\/p>\n

Pearsall spent the\u00a0first 3 seasons\u00a0of his college career at Arizona State, where he had 48 receptions for 580 yards and 4 touchdowns in 2021 before transferring to Florida.<\/p>\n

In 2 seasons at Florida, Pearsall had 98 receptions for 1,626 yards and 12 total touchdowns.<\/p>\n

NFL<\/a>\u00a0Network\u2019s Daniel Jeremiah ranked Pearsall as his No. 39 overall prospect and No. 7 wide receiver prospect after he stood out in practices before the\u00a02024 Senior Bowl\u00a0but didn\u2019t play in the game.<\/p>\n

Pearsall also put on a show at the NFL Scouting Combine, checking in at 6-foot-1 and 189 pounds before he ran the 40-yard dash in 4.41 seconds to go with an incredible 42-inch vertical leap.<\/p>\n

\u201cPearsall is a loose, smooth wideout with outstanding hands and toughness,\u201d Jeremiah wrote in 2024. \u201cHe is quick and he understands how to change gears as a route runner. He is fluid getting into and out of breaks. He has outstanding hands and makes some circus catches \u2026 he should have a starting role from Day 1 for his drafting team.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The San Francisco 49ers sent a pretty clear message to wide receiver and 2025 1st-round pick Ricky Pearsall…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":792266,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[559],"tags":[64,63,593,85],"class_list":["post-792265","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nfl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-nfl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/792265","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=792265"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/792265\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/792266"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=792265"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=792265"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=792265"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}