Niners rookie WR Ricky Pearsall made his NFL debut Sunday against the Chiefs and wound up leading the team in routes. Pearsall ran a route on 86.5% of QB Brock Purdy's dropbacks. That probably wasn't the plan going in, but San Francisco watched WR Deebo Samuel leave with an illness after just four plays and lost WR Brandon Aiyuk to a likely ACL tear in the second quarter.
Pearsall opened the game running as the primary slot WR and No. 3, in place of the injured Jauan Jennings.
He wound up playing 20 of his 48 snaps in the slot and the other 28 as an outside WR.
Pearsall's 5 targets ranked third on the team, behind George Kittle (7) and Aiyuk (6). He caught three of them for 21 yards.
The Aiyuk injury should keep Pearsall at least among the top 3 going forward, though I'd bet on him trailing Jennings in playing time -- at least initially.
Jennings didn't practice at all last week with his injured hip, though, and was ruled out Friday. He's certainly no lock for Week 8, especially with a bye on the other side of the Dallas matchup.
Even Jennings missing the game wouldn't make Pearsall a realistic starting option for most fantasy formats. But we'll be watching his role. And any participation is great to see after the rookie got shot in a robbery attempt just before the season.
Fellow rookie WR Jacob Cowing also showed up for 3 targets against the Chiefs but did so on just 8 routes. That ranked fifth among 49ers WRs.
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