49ers WR Tracker: Ricky Pearsall Headed to Season-Ending IR and PCL Surgery

The San Francisco 49ers plan to place Ricky Pearsall on season-ending injured reserve, and Pearsall is expected to undergo surgery on the PCL injury that has lingered from last season. Matt Barrows of The Athletic and ESPN’s Adam Schefter each reported the decision Saturday morning and attributed it to general manager John Lynch.

The corresponding transaction had not appeared on the 49ers’ 2026 transaction page when this tracker was updated. STACKED is therefore distinguishing the club’s stated plan, relayed by two credentialed reporters, from the completed roster transaction. The material 2026 availability question is no longer open: Lynch said Pearsall is expected to be out for the year.

That decision follows the NFL’s Thursday report that San Francisco is signing Deebo Samuel to a one-year deal worth up to $7 million, citing NFL Network insider Ian Rapoport. The club also had not added Samuel to its transaction page at update time, so his reunion remains a reported agreement until San Francisco posts the move.

What we know

San Francisco’s current transaction page lists the four players placed on Active/PUP on July 26: Alfred Collins, Isaac Guerendo, George Kittle and Mykel Williams. Pearsall was not on that list. His Wednesday absence began as a practice designation; Saturday’s reports describe a separate, season-ending injured-reserve plan that still needs to appear on the transaction wire.

The same page shows that the 49ers signed Evans and Christian Kirk in March. Kirk did not practice Monday because of a calf strain, according to the team’s Day 2 report. Samuel’s addition therefore joins an established veteran in Evans while Pearsall is expected to miss the season and Kirk carries a separate availability question.

The 49ers used the No. 33 pick on De'Zhaun Stribling and reported that he caught multiple passes while creating separation in Monday’s team drills. Purdy said Stribling understood route depths, details and alignments and had earned the offense’s trust. Those early camp signals do not settle the depth chart.

Live updates

Sat · 9:51 AM PT

Lynch says Pearsall is expected to miss 2026

Schefter reported that Lynch said Pearsall is expected to undergo season-ending surgery on the lingering PCL injury and be out for the year. Barrows reported the planned season-ending injured-reserve move and PCL surgery minutes earlier. The transaction had not yet posted.

Show earlier updates

Thu · 6:16 PM PT

NFL reports Deebo Samuel’s return

The NFL’s official X account reported that San Francisco is signing Samuel to a one-year deal worth up to $7 million. The club had not posted the transaction when this tracker was updated, and Samuel’s first practice role is not yet known.

Wed · 10:20 AM PT

Pearsall is held out with knee swelling

Maiocco reported that the 49ers connected the swelling to Pearsall’s prior PCL injury and were evaluating him. The team’s Day 3 report later listed him as a non-participant. Matt Barrows of The Athletic reported that the team was considering its options and described surgery as a possibility, not a club-announced decision.

What keeps this tracker live

An update qualifies if it changes a receiver’s roster status, practice availability, treatment plan, contract status or projected role. That includes official team transactions and practice reports, an injury decision from the club, material contract details, or credentialed beat reporting that changes a player’s timeline or first-team usage. A single camp catch or a generic coach compliment does not qualify.

Pearsall’s medical-plan and 2026-availability checkpoints are now resolved. The tracker remains live for the corresponding injured-reserve transaction, the official Samuel move and his initial workload, Stribling’s first-team route participation and alignments, plus Kirk’s return to team periods. Routine rehabilitation updates will not qualify unless they materially change Pearsall’s long-term outlook.

The STACKED read

Samuel gives San Francisco a familiar option for manufactured touches and backfield work, but the reported deal does not establish his target share. Evans was already working with Purdy before the agreement, Pearsall is now expected to miss the season, and Kirk has his own calf issue. Pearsall comes out of 2026 redraft plans; the rest of the room still needs practice evidence before STACKED assigns a settled target hierarchy.

Pearsall is an injured-reserve stash only in dynasty formats with sufficient space. The decision is not a short-term discount: Lynch’s reported expectation is season-ending PCL surgery and no 2026 return. His rehabilitation and the 49ers’ longer-term roster plans matter for dynasty value, but they do not restore a redraft role this season.

Samuel lowers Stribling’s immediate redraft ceiling by adding competition for routes, designed touches and short-area targets. The rookie still has a possible path to outside work while Pearsall is out of the 2026 route competition. His early separation and No. 33 draft capital keep him relevant, but the next useful evidence is first-team route participation and alignments once Samuel practices, along with Kirk’s return timeline.

Evans remains the stable hold. Samuel adds competition for short-area and manufactured touches, but no report has displaced Evans from the role San Francisco showed during the first three camp practices. Kirk’s calf strain and Samuel’s arrival make Kirk’s route location and third-down work worth tracking when he returns.

Fantasy impact

Source transparency

This manual update uses direct X posts from Barrows and Schefter for Lynch’s stated Pearsall plan, the official NFL X post for Samuel’s reported agreement, the 49ers’ current transaction page, its Day 2 and Day 3 reports and its Stribling draft announcement, plus the earlier direct Bluesky posts from Maiocco and Barrows. The team transaction page had posted neither move when this tracker was updated.

Maiocco and Barrows initially reported the connection to Pearsall’s prior PCL injury and that surgery was one option under review. Saturday’s X posts move the story beyond that evaluation: Barrows reported the season-ending injured-reserve and PCL-surgery plan, while Schefter reported that Lynch expects Pearsall to be out for the year after discussions with doctors.

STACKED’s autonomous pipeline requires two independent direct X or Threads originals before it can publish or append a public update. The new Barrows and Schefter URLs are distinct direct X posts from two registered credentialed reporter accounts and satisfy that transport requirement for this development. Both posts attribute the substantive decision to Lynch, so STACKED presents it as the club’s stated plan rather than as two separate club announcements. This tracker was updated under an explicit manual editorial request.

For broader camp context, see the STACKED guide to the signals worth tracking across all 32 training camps. This tracker’s next useful signals are the official Pearsall and Samuel transactions and San Francisco’s post-Pearsall receiver usage.