San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Ricky Pearsall returned to the team's headquarters just days after being shot in the chest during an attempted robbery on Saturday afternoon. President of football operations and general manager John Lynch, who spent time with Pearsall during his hospitalization, provided positive updates regarding the rookie wide receiver's condition on Tuesday in the team's first press conference of the week.
"We just all feel incredibly blessed," Lynch said." I was able to be down at the hospital, and I heard it from so many down there, it's nothing short of miraculous that he came out of this as good as he did."
Along with sharing the good news, the 49ers general manager was quick to express his gratitude to the many agencies and first responders that rendered aid to Pearsall. That list includes San Francisco Police Department sergeant Joelle Harrell, the greater SFPD, San Francisco General Hospital and various members of the team's internal medical, communications and player engagement staff.
Pearsall was been placed on the Reserve/Non-Football Injury list on Monday, meaning he will not see playing time for at least the first four weeks of the season.
"We had to act quickly with that decision," Lynch recounted. "I wish we had some more time to make it, but ultimately we felt the number one thing we had to be concerned with was Ricky's wellbeing physically, emotionally, mentally, and ultimately decided that the best thing for Ricky was to have a little bit of time... When we drafted Ricky, we did it for the long term. Ricky is going to be a fantastic player here. He's eager. He was disappointed, but understood that we put him on that list and what that entails."
Lynch described Pearsall injury as "through and through" and went on to share that the recovery will involve the physical healing of the wound and the trauma surrounding the incident.
Physically, the 49ers first-round draft pick has made tremendous strides in a short amount of time. The general manager remained optimistic but left his response open-ended when asked about the potential of Pearsall's return during the 2024 season.
"He's doing remarkably well," Lynch said. "... I relied on our medical experts. They felt it was too much to ask (for him) to come back within the next four weeks. So, we made that decision to at least give him that time. He's doing remarkably so much better today than he was yesterday. (It's) really really miraculous."
