As the San Francisco 49ers hope to rebound after a disappointing 2024 season, they'll need some of their other offensive weapons to step up in 2025. Ricky Pearsall is one of those offensive weapons needed to up the ante for the Niners in 2025.
Pearsall was a bit of a surprising pick for San Francisco in last year's draft, especially as a first-round draft choice. He started just four games during his rookie season but appeared in 11 games and tallied 31 catches for 400 yards and found the end zone three times.
The good news is that Pearsall wasn't expected to be a starter right off the bat given the other weapons the Niners had on their squad a year ago. That's not going to be the case this year and, as a result, Fantasy Pros has named Pearsall as one of their fantasy football breakout candidates for the 2025 season with a quote from Ed Birdsall.
"Ricky Pearsall‘s second-year breakout season is here. Deebo Samuel has departed for new pastures and Brandon Aiyuk will possibly (probably) not be ready for the start of the season after his knee injury last year. Glimpses of what Pearsall could become were on full display at the end of the season last year, with Pearsall recording 210 yards on 14 catches with two scores to end what was a wild rookie campaign, to say the least. Being drafted as a WR4, Pearsall carries easy WR2 upside in 2025 that could grow if Christian McCaffrey is unable to stay healthy."
49ers WR Ricky Pearsall named breakout fantasy football candidate
As Birdsall noted, this year paints a better picture for a productive season for Pearsall. He won't have to compete with Deebo Samuel for targets and Brandon Aiyuk probably isn't going to be ready to go right away. Jauan Jennings and Demarcus Robinson will likely be the other two starters alongside Pearsall, giving Brock Purdy a steady trio of weapons to start off the year.
Considering the 49ers spent a first-round pick on Pearsall, people are going to be less patient with him as far as production goes. Now that he's officially a starter, he needs to step it up and be a bigger weapon for Purdy and the Niners and this year should give him an opportunity to do that. If so, he could be one of the most intriguing fantasy football prospects this year and could fly under the radar in drafts since people might not know much about him.
We'll have to see if Pearsall ends up living up to this hype or if 2025 is another meh season for him.
