Golden Gate Breakout? All Eyes on Pearsall
August 6, 2025
The 2025 season looks to be one that’s filled with big changes for San Francisco offensively. Christian McCaffrey is expected to be back and healthy, George Kittle is coming off another dominant campaign, and Brock Purdy has now officially inked his contract making him the 8th highest paid quarterback in the league. Well, what has changed then?
For starters, the former number one receiver, Deebo Samuel, will now be playing his home games in Maryland for the Washington Commanders. Jauan Jennings, who was once thought to be holding out, quickly suffered a calf injury early in camp which has kept him off the practice field. There are many conflicting reports on whether or not the injury is legitimate, however, the timing is certainly suspect. Finally, Brandon Aiyuk is still recovering from a torn ACL and MCL that occurred late last October. The best case scenario there is to get him back on a practice field 11 months after surgery. This, of course, leaves 2024 1st round pick Ricky Pearsall as seemingly the last man standing.
Pearsall got off to a rough start himself during his rookie year when he was involved in an attempted robbery and sustained a bullet wound to the chest. Despite this traumatic event, he still managed to recover and make his rookie debut against the Chiefs in Week 7. He’d be called upon often as the 49ers dealt with multiple injuries across their offense leaving them thin at the playmaker position. Pearsall would ultimately end up catching 31 balls for 400 yards and 3 trips to the endzone.
Enter the 2025 dilemma for the 49ers. While Deebo didn’t have a stellar 2024, he still earned 81 targets that are up for grabs this coming season with his departure. Aiyuk earned 47 targets before his injury but is only expected to miss the month of September. Assuming he only misses one month, let’s take 20 of those targets and add it to Deebo’s 81, we’re looking at 101 available targets in the San Fran offense, and let’s not forget that Pearsall earned 46 of his own as well. The situation with Jennings remains cloudy in early August as he seeks a new contract, however, there are no reports of him requesting a trade at this time. While we don’t have the data for CMC as he missed most of the season last year, we do have his 2023 line which was off the charts everywhere. For this exercise, he did record 83 targets. While I can’t imagine he comes close to that number again, I would lean towards somewhere around the 50 target range.
All of this to say that there will be a window in September, possibly early October, where the red and gold will need to lean on their former first rounder to soak up some of those targets. We may be looking at an opportunity for a legitimate breakout if Pearsall can continue to get these valuable Summer reps in with Purdy throughout camp.
Keith, Author
Keith runs youth flag football leagues by day, and by night he hosts the podcast and writes articles with the confidence of a man who’s been rushing quarterbacks since dial-up. A longtime flag football DE and lifelong Falcons fan, he’s no stranger to heartbreak and enjoys watching the bears get slaughtered each week. Equal parts coach, critic, and chaos, Keith calls it like he sees it… even if it hurts.
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