The emotional lift of Ricky Pearsall’s return to the field 50 days after he was shot lasted less than half. Then the San Francisco 49ers had to deal with more bad news at receiver.
Brandon Aiyuk went down with a right knee injury in Sunday’s 28-18 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs. Coach Kyle Shanahan fears this is a season-ending ACL tear.
Shanahan said the team was awaiting confirmation of an MRI scheduled for Monday, but Aiyuk is expected to miss the rest of the season due to the latest injury to a San Francisco team that already has All-Pro running back Christian McCaffrey and other key figures are missing. players.
“I know a lot of teams are dealing with that,” Shanahan said of the wave of injuries. “Not every team, but we are having a hard time with it right now. It got even worse today. It’s tough.”
Aiyuk was injured late in the first half when he was hit in the knee on a catch in the red zone. He lay there for a few minutes before being taken to the dressing room and was quickly ruled out for the remainder of the match.
Aiyuk, who signed a four-year, $120 million extension in late August after a long-term contract “hold in,” has 25 catches for 374 yards this season. He was a second-team All-Pro last season when he had 1,342 yards receiving.
San Francisco was already without two of its other top receivers, while Jauan Jennings was sidelined with a hip injury that isn’t expected to be long-term, and Deebo Samuel battled an illness that limited him to four goals against Kansas City.
That put more responsibility on the plate of Pearsall, who was activated from the non-football injury list on Saturday. Pearsall came in for his first play on San Francisco’s opening drive and caught his first career pass late in the second quarter. He finished with three catches for 21 yards.
“He was supposed to settle down a little bit today,” Shanahan said. “That changed a little bit when Deebo went out and it changed a lot when Aiyuk went out. So he had to do more today than we expected and I was proud of him for doing that. It’s great to have him back.”
Pearsall returned to training on Monday for the first time since he was shot in the chest in San Francisco’s Union Square neighborhood on August 31. He was hospitalized overnight but avoided organ and nerve damage and was back training at the team facility. the following week.
Pearsall, who was drafted in the first round in April, missed the majority of training camp practices with hamstring and shoulder injuries but was on track to be ready for the opener before he was shot.
He started his college career at Arizona State and moved to Florida for his final two seasons. He had 65 catches for 965 yards and four touchdowns for the Gators last season and finished his college career with 159 catches for 2,420 yards and 14 touchdowns.
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