The 49ers didn’t make any blockbuster trades, but they added Florida’s Ricky Pearsall with their first pick in the 2024 NFL Draft.
The San Francisco 49ers front office watched the NFL Draft play itself out without making any moves. On a day when we were told wide receivers Brandon Aiyuk and Deebo Samuel were being dangled as trade pieces to move up into the draft, John Lynch and company ended up staying put at No. 31 and selecting Florida wide receiver Ricky Pearsall.
Pearsall was expected to be a second-round pick by most draft experts, ranking as the 48th-best prospect the consensus board compiled by Arif Hasan, behind other receivers who were available like Georgia’s Ladd McConkey and Texas’ Adonai Mitchell. The Niners exhausted their entire time on the clock before submitting the pick, suggesting they tried to trade down before ultimately bucking the convention.
With Samuel and Aiyuk entrenched atop the receiving depth chart, Pearsall will likely compete with Jauan Jennings to be the Niners’ third receiver during the preseason. Over his five-year college career, which began at Arizona State, Pearsall amassed 19 touchdowns and 2,673 yards from scrimmage with 14 receiving and five rushing touchdowns. He also returned punts for Florida this past season, averaging 11.5 yards per return.
No blockbuster trade involving Aiyuk or Samuel does not discredit any reports from earlier. It takes two to tango, and listening to offers does not mean looking for a trade. One way or another, the 49ers didn’t get an offer that was good enough to pull the trigger on a deal. It’s important to point out that just because we’re hearing about a potential move today doesn’t mean it’s not information from days or weeks ago. Following the pick, Adam Schefter stated there were no offers yet but hinted the 49ers were hearing offers for all three wide receivers. This means you can add Jauan Jennings to potential trade speculation for the rest of the weekend.
The positions of need we previously highlighted, including receiver, offensive line, and cornerback, were all in play. The first nine picks saw the three wide receivers everyone expected to be selected. The next wideout wasn’t chosen until No. 23, leaving Adonai Mitchell, Xavier Worthy, and Ladd McConkey as potential options.
The run on cornerbacks began in the 20s after the Philadelphia Eagles took Quinyon Mitchell and the Detroit Lions snagged Terrion Mitchell. That meant that two of the cornerbacks we discussed, DeJean and Kool-Aid McKinstry, would be on the board at No. 31.
Instead, the Niners threw us a curveball and selected Pearsall. Pearsall tested extremely well, running a 4.41 40-yard dash with a 42” vertical at 6’1, 189 pounds. He turns 24 in September. He was a freshman at Arizona State when Brandon Aiyuk was a senior:
Here’s what we said about Pearsall in our wide receiver rankings:
Pearsall is a fifth-year senior who tested like an elite athlete. But there’s no nuance to his routes, and when your wingspan is in the 17th percentile, the margin for error as a target is slim. That was a glaring issue at Florida when the quarterback was off-target. That should be magnified in the NFL, limiting Pearsall’s effectiveness.
Without another selection until late in the second round, the 49ers first day of the 2024 NFL Draft is almost certainly over. For today, that is.
Drafting Pearsall might be a signal that the 49ers are moving Deebo Samuel, as the two would be repetitive, considering how many draft analysts view Pearsall.
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