Niners Nation
The San Francisco 49ers have a character flaw, and it is injuries. The wide receiver room has been hit hard, with the likes of Jauan Jennings and Brandon Aiyuk out for stretches (or in Aiyuk’s case, the entirety) of training camp.
That allows second-year wide receiver Ricky Pearsall a chance to shine. Everywhere you’ve looked, it’s been the Brock Purdy, Pearsall connection at camp. You saw it during the 49ers’ preseason win over the Las Vegas Raiders.
That doesn’t change the fact that Pearsall is watching his colleagues go to the trainers’ room.
“I think it’s just definitely not normal,” Pearsall said Thursday of the wide receivers’ injuries. “It’s definitely different, and we all know that. But that’s okay. It’s not always going to be the same.”
One thing it does is allow Pearsall to show he was worth that 2024 first-round pick.
But he’s right, it’s always odd when this happens. That is, if you aren’t the San Francisco 49ers.
Speaking from a more bird’s-eye of the 49ers’ injuries, it’s getting to the point where it feels abnormal if they go through a season without any significant injuries. In 2024, Christian McCaffrey missed a majority of the season (Achilles tendinitis). 2022 saw quarterbacks Trey Lance, then Jimmy Garoppolo, then Brock Purdy go down—that’s a single season.
2023—the Super Bowl year—wasn’t normal from a 49ers injury perspective. The bug still found a way: Talanoa Hufanga went down midseason, then Dre Greenlaw during the Super Bowl.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: If you aren’t anticipating random injuries at the most inopportune times, you haven’t been following this team for very long.
And right now? It feels strange saying it, but it’s luck. The team named Dustin Perry as their vice president of player health and performance back in April. So far, Perry is off to a rocky start in his tenure. For context, his predecessor, Ben Peterson left to join the NBA’s Atlanta Hawks just before 2024 training camp. Many of the injuries referenced above from 2022–23 happened on Peterson’s watch; the 2024 issues cropped up after he left.
Right now, it’s the wide receivers who have to weather the storm. Hopefully this bug isn’t contagious through the season—or in the postseason.
