Ricky Pearsall is currently out of the San Francisco 49ers’ training camp with a PCL injury, and initial reports say he might be out for much longer than that. While it did give us the return of Deebo Samuel to fill the wide receiver spot in an extended Pearsall absence, it’s rather concerning for Pearsall, a player who had little issue in college dealing with injuries, getting another season derailed due to an injury.
This injury was re-aggravated in December of 2025, and so now, in 2026 training camp, the wide receiver is going to be considering surgery? As you might expect, this has some fans questioning the timing. Why did he wait until 49ers training camp when symptoms showed up to now be considering an operation when he could have done it during the offseason?
Advertisement
Oh the timing! Oh the bad medical advice! Oh, that’s actually what doctors recommend.
On X, Dr. Nirav Pandya went over why these cases usually avoid surgery until it’s a last resort:
The post has that “show more” button, so here’s what else was said in the same post regarding surgery:
Sometimes the symptoms won’t creep up until players really start doing intensive activities. The reason to try and delay PCL surgery is that reconstruction has a long recovery process (9-12 months) and results are mixed; especially at an agility position like WR.
The word is ‘mixed results’. Not every player returns from a surgery the same way they were before. Sure, the 49ers and Pearsall could have decided surgery was the best option last year, but then they open up a whole new mess of potential problems. While Pearsall’s future in the NFL may be uncertain, the surgery would add another wrinkle to the uncertainty.
Advertisement
What I’m getting at is it wasn’t some ill-advised decision to leave surgery until absolutely necessary and avoiding surgery wasn’t an option Pearsall or the 49ers were going for—it’s generally what is recommended. Pearsall practiced, then symptoms appeared during training camp. These are not paper cuts; they take months to heal on their own without surgery.
There’s nothing Pearsall could have done differently, according to many medical professionals. Now it might be time for the last resort.
“The data on these is not good surgically,” Dr. Jesse Morse said on X when discussing the injury.
So basically, rehab and rest are the first steps to recovery from this injury. Going under the knife is a last resort due to the risks and complications.
Advertisement
Surgery still isn’t official either; it’s just an option and something discussed. An “if” of sorts. The first step was to see if this would heal on its own. It clearly is not after a generous amount of time, so now they look at other alternatives.
Hopefully, with a few more weeks or months, this goes away for good.
