If you had told the San Francisco 49ers that their first round pick Ricky Pearsall would have 400 receiving yards as a rookie, they would have most likely came away thinking that everything went according to plan.
Not needing Pearsall to contribute much would have meant that Brandon Aiyuk, Deebo Samuel, and Jauan Jennings carried the load while the Niners eased Pearsall in and prepared him for Year 2.
As we know, that couldn’t be further from the truth. It was a traumatic rookie season for Pearsall, to put it lightly. Because of the events that transpired, Pearsall didn’t catch his first pass until October, and didn’t surprass 50 receiving yards in a game until after Halloween.
The 49ers and Pearsall couldn’t wait to turn the page from the 2024 season that was. One way for Pearsall to move on was by changing jersey numbers. According to a Twitter account dedicated to jersey numbers, the Niners first round pick from last year will wear his old college number:
There’s nothing official from the team about Pearsall switching to Deebo Samuel’s old (new?) number, but it’s available and Pearsall wore No. 1 during his time at the University of Florida. Pearsall also wore No. 19 at Arizona State, so he has plenty in common with Samuel when it comes to jersey numbers.
I think we can all agree that No. 14 is not aesthetically pleasing for a wideout drafted in the first round. Pearsall, hypothetically, snatches up one of the most popular jersey numbers available before any free agent or rookie can get their hands on No. 1 — which is another, albeit small, reason a change in jersey number at this point in the offseason makes sense.
We will provide an update once Pearsall or the team has one.