Ricky Pearsall made a strong impression in the first six weeks since the 49ers selected him No. 31 overall in the first round of the 2024 NFL Draft.
But what’s truly important is what happens in late July when the team reports back to Santa Clara for the opening of training camp.
“I think he’s carried himself really well,” 49ers All-Pro linebacker Fred Warner said of Pearsall.
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“There’s a reason why he was drafted in the first round. Usually, you get drafted that high because you have a lot of ability and you’re built of the right stuff.”
Warner said he did not look at the various draft projections of wide receivers, so he had no expectations of Pearsall when he joined the 49ers’ organized team activities.
“I give all the rookies a chance to prove themselves,” Warner said. “You’re not really going to prove much in OTAs when you’re in shorts and T-shirt, but I really like what I’ve seen in terms of how he’s operated around the building, you know, going up to guys and shaking their hand, looking them in the eye, ‘Hey, man, I’m Ricky, nice to meet you.’ Little stuff like that goes a long way.”
Pearsall appeared to fit right into the 49ers’ offense after joining the team’s offseason program. He was a regular target of Brock Purdy and the other quarterbacks during offense vs. defense drills.
San Francisco 49ers
“He's got really good hands so he’s rarely going to have a drop,” 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan said during the team’s mandatory minicamp last week. “We're getting him a lot of reps. He's getting a lot of different routes, trying all the positions and we’ve been really impressed with how he started off.”
Warner cautioned it is far too early to make any judgments about any players until camp opens this summer and contact is allowed during the padded practices.
“He can obviously run fast. He runs really good routes, can catch the ball well,” Warner said of Pearsall. “So we’ll see what happens when we throw the pads on.”
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