Ricky Pearsall is the most interesting 49er in 2025. We spent a practice trailing him (paywall)
“He goes through a ground-up warmup, beginning by rubbing a small massage ball on the bottom of his feet.
“Everything starts with your feet, right?” Pearsall said. “And Elliott’s (director of functional performance Elliott Williams) doing some toe stuff. I know it sounds weird, but we’re doing a lot of toe stuff. We’ve got a foot fetish on this team or something.”
Pearsall works his way up his body, stretching and warming his calves, hamstrings, quadriceps, glutes and hips. He pays special attention to his ankles with controlled articular rotations (CARs) and other exercises. For Pearsall, ankle flexibility is paramount.
“When I come out (of breaks), I feel like that foot angle I’m at, it allows me to open up my hips better because I can get in that real deep position,” he says. “I think that’s helped me a lot. I remember in high school, I had terrible, terrible mobility. After getting on top of that, I felt like I was a totally different player as far as cutting and speed.”
With Jauan Jennings back at practice, 49ers’ WR prospects don’t seem so bleak (paywall)
“Others who returned to practice for Monday’s so-called “bonus” practice included defensive tackle Kalia Davis, defensive end Yetur Gross-Matos and Gage. Puni, at right guard, and Davis, at defensive tackle, likely will start Sunday if they don’t have any setbacks.
The only member of the 53-man roster who didn’t practice Monday was rookie wideout Jordan Watkins, who is coming back from a high-ankle sprain. Watkins has been running on a side field in recent weeks. He’s unlikely to be ready for Week 1 but could be back soon thereafter.“
Kawakami: How the 49ers won their staredown with Jauan Jennings (paywall)
“I suspect his agent, Drew Rosenhaus, knew most of this was inevitable long ago, but had to play it out. Easy clues: After the initial July ESPN report of Jennings wanting a new deal or he’d seek to be traded, there was zero national coverage of this tense situation. None. Which is a sure sign of a player-driven situation, with the agent kind of riding along and waiting for the losing resolution.”
The punter called his own number: 49ers’ Morstead thrives as his own agent (paywall)
“A mechanical engineering major at SMU, Morstead, 39, first represented himself in 2018. And he did OK for himself. He negotiated a four-year, $15.85 million contract with the Saints that made him the NFL’s highest-paid punter.
He became his own agent partly because he didn’t like receiving secondhand information during contract talks. Did the front office really say that about him? What was the tone? He wanted direct communication. And it helped that it was easier to assess his performance, which includes quantifiable numbers such as hang time, than it is for players at other positions.“
Dominick Puni reveals recovery status after returning to 49ers practice
“”Getting to full strength,” Puni said. “The PCL heels pretty fast, so it’s feeling a lot better.”
As for being back on the field, the 25-year-old admitted there was some adjustment.
“Definitely a little rusty, but it just takes a day,” he noted. “So, I’m excited for Wednesday and Thursday.”
The lineman recalled feeling relieved when he learned the injury affected his PCL and not his ACL. Puni went down while blocking during a field goal attempt following the starters’ only offensive drive against the Las Vegas Raiders.
“That was the good news,” Puni said of learning his ACL was fine. “That’s when I smiled in there (in the medical tent). I was like, ‘All right, let’s go.’ But they said PCL could be anywhere from three to eight weeks, depending on how you recover. I’m on the better side right now, so it’s good.”
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