The San Francisco 49ers announced eight transactions on Friday afternoon, ahead of the veterans reporting for training camp next week.
Six players were placed on the Active/Physically Unable to Perform List:
WR Brandon Aiyuk
OL Andre Dillard
Edge Yetur Gross-Matos
S Malik Mustapha
WR Ricky Pearsall
LB Curtis Robinson
The Active/PUP list is for players who are unable to start training camp due to a football-related injury. They can return to practice as soon as they’re medically cleared.
The 49ers have broken up their training dates more than ever. They’ll practice next Wednesday through Friday, with a day off in between on Saturday. Then they’ll have another three practice blocks from Sunday, July 27, to Friday, July 29. That’s a typical schedule under Kyle Shanahan.
The difference comes in the third block. This time around, the Niners — likely when they start turning up the physicality at practice — the third block doesn’t start until Monday, August 4. This is the first time that we’ve seen a week-ish break once training camp has already begun.
August 4 would make sense as a return date for Pearsall. He was originally sidelined after tweaking a hamstring. At the last training camp, it was a shoulder injury that prevented Pearsall from practicing right away.
There’s no logical reason to rush back Pearsall if he’s nursing any sort of injury. They need their first-rounder from a year ago to develop into a reliable target for Brock Purdy.
The Aiyuk news isn’t a surprise after hearing about his recovery and a possible return as early as Week 5. But it does put more pressure on Pearsall to accelerate his learning curve as a pro.