49ers top draft pick Ricky Pearsall is poised to author an incredible story in the 2024 season

John Lynch used the same word three times as the San Francisco 49ers general manager addressed the media on Tuesday: miraculous.

It's difficult to find a better one to describe the escape the Niners' 2024 first-round pick Ricky Pearsall had on Saturday when he was shot through the chest during an attempted armed robbery in San Francisco.

As Lynch confirmed in his press conference, the bullet missed all Pearsall's organs, did not hit any nerves and even managed to avoid bones, enabling him to incredibly leave hospital just a day later.

"By the grace of God, Ricky Pearsall is here with the team and doing really well," Lynch said in his opening statement.

"Just wanted to address that situation from a team perspective, we just all feel incredibly blessed. I was able to be down at the hospital, and if I heard it from one person, I heard it from so many down there, it’s nothing short of miraculous that he came out of this as good as he did."

The 'through and through' wound Pearsall suffered will still need time to heal, and the 49ers placed the wide receiver on the non-football injury list , meaning he will miss at least the first four games of the regular season.

But the incredible fortune that smiled upon Pearsall gives him the chance to author what could be one of the most remarkable stories of the 2024 season, with Lynch expressing confidence the former Florida wideout, who has dealt with shoulder issues that kept him out of the entirety of preseason, can return to play this season and make a meaningful contribution.

“Oh, yeah. He’s doing remarkably well," Lynch added. "It’s kind of unchartered territory. It’s not every day you deal with something like this, but we just felt, ultimately, probably if it was just this scenario, he hadn’t had the other shoulder and all that, it was just a lot for him to work through.

"If you just were looking at it physically. I thought too much to ask. I relied on our medical experts. They felt too much to ask to come back within the next four weeks. So we made that decision to at least give him that time. He’s doing remarkably so much better today than he was yesterday. Really, really miraculous. Didn’t touch organs, feels like all the nerve stuff is good. It’s pretty remarkable.”

While the priority is of course Pearsall's health, Lynch revealed that the 31st overall pick's attention soon turned to football and his teammates once he got to the hospital.

The 49ers held a team party to mark the start of the season on Saturday, and Pearsall was still able to show his face in some capacity.

"When I got to the hospital and visited with Ricky, it was one of the first things he said, ‘Mr. Lynch, what’s going on? I would really like everyone to go to that party," said Lynch.

"And I’d also like to talk to some of my teammates.’ I said, ‘Ricky, you take care of yourself.’ But kind of a cool moment. We were able to pipe Ricky into the party, and he FaceTimed the entire group. That show of love and respect was a real special moment for our team.

"I think some of his earliest concerns is when he could play. He’s asking me and I’m like ‘I don’t know’. But the surgeon was there and helping him through those type of thoughts. But Ricky takes a lot of pride in being available and continues to point out that ‘I promise you, I’m not injury prone.’

"Ricky, this is not being injury prone, it's like something out of your control happened. Ricky’s going to be great. He’s going to be a fantastic player. The times we’ve seen him out on the [field of] play, he’s exactly what we envisioned and more.

"I can’t wait to see that take place in due time. But first and foremost, we’re going to make sure that he’s all good and ready to go, more than ready by the time we bring him back.”

Playing on an offense stuffed with elite playmaking talent, the 49ers don't need Pearsall to hit the ground running the second he makes his return. The reality is that Pearsall's rookie season is already a huge win because he's still here to potentially play in it.

As we learned with Brian Robinson Jr. after the Washington Commanders running back was shot in August 2022, rookies are not eligible to win Comeback Player of the Year. That's unfortunate, because any kind of meaningful contribution from Pearsall would likely see him win the 2024 award in a landslide.

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