San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan provided the latest update on rookie wide receiver Ricky Pearsall this week.
Shanahan said Pearsall, who was shot in the chest on Saturday, is already making incredible progress.
“It’s kind of been amazing, just watching him,” Shanahan said to reporters. “Getting to see him on Sunday and Monday, for him to be able to walk around and stuff with that happening, talking to people at the ER, them saying out of like 100 people, two people survive that. And to be able to see him the next day and just that he is able to walk, he’s coming to meetings, he’s doing all that.”
Shanahan said Pearsall wants to wait about a week or so without trying to work up a sweat. Then, he’ll start his rehab and progress towards a return.
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The 49ers placed Pearsall on the non-football injury list, meaning he’ll miss at least the first four games of the season. However, both Shanahan and general manager John Lynch expressed confidence that Pearsall would play this season.
Read more: 49ers GM Provides Update on Ricky Pearsall After Shooting
“Oh yeah,” Lynch said earlier this week when asked if he was confident Pearsall could contribute this season. “He’s doing remarkably well. It’s kind of uncharted territory. It’s not every day that you deal with something like this.”
Pearsall said to Shanahan that he could be back as soon as this weekend against the New York Jets. However, the 49ers will take extra precautions with their rookie first-round pick.
“I think [not rushing him back] is big,” Shanahan said. “Especially, I think, each day, the mental part becomes more of a big deal. The adrenaline and just surviving that. Ricky saying stuff, at first, that doesn’t matter like, ‘I still think I could play versus the Jets.’ Those are the things he’s talking about, and it’s just like, ‘Dude, what are you talking about? There’s other things.’
“But the adrenaline of all that. And then I think each day just to actually relive that and what his family had to go through for a couple hours, just flying out here, not totally knowing what the deal was going to be. I think that’s tough for him or anybody. When that adrenaline goes away, that becomes a much bigger deal. And that’s kind of what I mean by everyone kind of respecting that. Because we’d all be the same, and trying not to make him relive it as much as possible, but it’s really an unbelievable story.”
Pearsall’s earliest possible NFL debut would be Week 5 against the Arizona Cardinals. The fact that he’ll potentially play at all this season is a miracle in and of itself.
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