Kyle Shanahan barely made it through the 2024 season without needing his own injury report. From sidelined starters to shuffled depth charts, the 49ers fought through wave after wave of injuries and somehow stayed competitive. In total, 22 different players missed at least one game due to injury, including Christian McCaffrey, Talanoa Hufanga, Brandon Aiyuk, and Deebo Samuel. So heading into 2025, the Niners were hoping for a fresh start. But based on the latest updates from training camp, it’s looking like déjà vu all over again.
And, well, this time it’s not who’s hurt so much as how long they’ll be hampered.
Injuries happen at camp. A strained muscle here, a sore ankle there, are normal things. But when Ricky Pearsall, Renardo Green, and Jacob Cowling all pull up lame with hamstring injuries within five days, that’s when something’s clearly off. According to NBC Sports Bay Area’s Matt Maiocco, Kyle did say this, “Ricky had a bad hamstring in OTAs. I mean, not really bad. A normal one.” Now, something is seriously off.
What’s worse is that these injuries may linger far longer than people expect. As 49ers insider Grant Cohn pointed out: “The problem with hamstring injuries, it’s not really just three weeks, especially in football. There’s a high tendency of them lingering and recurring.” He’s not exaggerating.
A 2021 study in the British Journal of Sports Medicine found that NFL players have a 12–33% reinjury rate for hamstring injuries and that performance can be impaired for up to 8 weeks when they return to play. Take Renardo Green, for example. He’d been enjoying one of his best practice sessions of camp so far after breaking up a couple of passes to Jauan Jennings, when disaster hit. According to Cohn, “He came close to a full sprint and seemed to pull his hamstring… went right over to a trainer and was pointing, patting on his left hammy.”
And this isn’t isolated. Jacob Cowling reportedly had only a “minor tweak” early in camp, but now he hasn’t been seen since. Pearsall’s injury was confirmed by the team, but Kyle Shanahan has not given a timetable for his return. It’s a maddeningly difficult injury because even when players are ‘medically cleared,’ it’s rare that they’re 100% perfect. These soft-tissue issues impact explosiveness and burst off the line, as well as mental confidence, especially in positions like wide receiver and cornerback. That puts Ricky Pearsall in a tough spot.
Players aren’t limited to just these injuries. They make Kyle Shanahan have to dig into his bag of tricks earlier than expected. Instead of polishing plays and packages, he’s finagling roles and reps and holding his breath for updates from the trainers.
How will Kyle Shanahan plan despite injuries?
Now let’s discuss replacements, because someone’s going to have to pick up the slack. With Pearsall out, the favorite for the WR3 snaps is Jauan Jennings. A big receiver and a physical one at that, Jennings broke out in 2024 with 77 catches for 975 yards and six touchdowns, establishing himself as a reliable red-zone target and safety valve in a depleted 49ers offense. Jennings is reliable, but doesn’t have Pearsall’s quickness or ability to create space on a route, particularly on verticals. Other names in the mix? Chris Conley, 6 receptions for 76 yards last season, and Danny Gray, a burner with potential but still inconsistent.
Defensively, Renardo Green’s absence opens up competition in the secondary. The most buzzed-about candidate is Upton Stout, a rookie corner who’s reportedly turning heads. According to Cohn, “It looks like Upton Stout is starting to take over as the nickel… I haven’t seen him get beat much.”
NFL, American Football Herren, USA San Francisco 49ers at Arizona Cardinals Jan 5, 2025 Glendale, Arizona, USA San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Jauan Jennings 15 talks with head coach Kyle Shanahan after being ejected in the first half against the Arizona Cardinals at State Farm Stadium. Glendale State Farm Stadium Arizona USA, EDITORIAL USE ONLY PUBLICATIONxINxGERxSUIxAUTxONLY Copyright: xMattxKartozianx 20250105_hlf_ak4_288
So, ultimately, what it will boil down to is this: the 49ers’ replacement for Pearsall and Green won’t be about finding what those two brought to the table. This is also about buying time, bridging gaps, and hoping that the long-term fallout won’t be as severe as it appears at the moment.
Injuries are as much a regular part of the NFL as the football, but three soft-tissue pulls throughout one camp? That’s a problem. And those injuries come to your first-round WR, your best young corner, and another depth receiver? That’s a bigger problem. If Kyle Shanahan wants a different outcome in 2025, he’ll need to rethink how his team trains and conditions. That includes how long it takes them to ramp up to full football speed. Jennings and Stout may or may not be able to hold the fort. But already the Niners’ dreams of a clean, injury-free start to 2025 are dissipating.
The post 49ers Insider Says the Quiet Part Out Loud About Ricky Pearsall & Renardo Green’s Injuries to Kyle Shanahan appeared first on EssentiallySports.
