San Francisco 49ers general manager John Lynch spoke to reporters on Tuesday while the team practiced, providing updates on the weekend incident that resulted in rookie wide receiver Ricky Pearsall being shot. Here is everything he said.
Transcript provided by the San Francisco 49ers Communications staff.
Opening comments:
"By the grace of God, [WR] Ricky Pearsall is here with the team and doing really well. 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. On behalf of Ricky and his family, I talked with Ricky this morning, he just wants to express, and the team wants to express, our gratitude to a variety of people. Number one, the San Francisco Police Department, they were incredible in their response. They were incredible at the hospital. I want to, in particular, recognize [San Francisco Police Department sergeant] Joelle Harrell. I met Joelle, I met her husband Frank, who happened to be in charge of everything at the hospital at San Francisco General, but his wife was the first on the scene. I think we've all seen the measures she went to, to make Ricky comfortable. And she was there for him in a real rough time. I know how appreciative Ricky is of that. We're appreciative to the entire police department. They just were tremendous from the police chief, Bill Scott, on down. The folks at San Francisco General, the care that they gave Ricky and his family, the respect, the way they handled things was just, was unbelievable. We're eternally grateful for that. I want to shout out our staff. Austin Moss [II] was the first that heard of this, our senior director of player affairs and development. Austin was just tremendous in his handling and helped identify where Ricky was. From Austin to Dustin Little, our head trainer, to our doctors, [head team physician/orthopedic surgeon] Tim McAdams [MD], [primary care/internal medicine Anthony Saglimbeni, MD] Nino, [vice president of football communications] Corry [Rush] and his staff, everyone just pulled together when we needed to be together. The best description I've ever heard to what the Niner culture is all about is [Pro Football Hall of Fame QB] Steve Young talking about one time [Pro Football Hall of Fame S] Ronnie Lott came up to him early in his career and said, 'Hey, I got your back.' And we had Ricky's back. I'm real proud of our team with the way they've responded. I wanted to touch on, at the time of all this going on, we had a team party that was scheduled. 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. 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. Before I take a couple questions, first of all, we did put Ricky on NFI, Non-Football Injury. It's similar to PUP, but it just happened away from the field. We had to act quickly with that decision. I wish we had some more time to make it, but ultimately we felt the number one thing we had to be concerned with was Ricky's wellbeing physically, emotionally, mentally, and ultimately decided that the best thing for Ricky was to have a little bit of time. And he's going to need that time physically, he's going to need that time emotionally, mentally, and we made that decision. When we drafted Ricky, we did it for the long term. And Ricky is going to be a fantastic player here. He's eager. He was disappointed, but understood that we put him on that list and what that entails. It's four weeks, at least. We're just going to take this as it comes. Ricky's parents are so grateful. They were incredible. They got up here real quick from the Arizona area, Rick and Erin. His girlfriend was tremendous. There are a lot of questions. There is an active police investigation going on, so please be respectful of, I'm not going to get into all the details. And then finally, the only thing I'd like to say, we're real proud to be part of this community. We live in a special place. What this makes me recognize, what this should make us all recognize, we all can be better. We all need to be better to each other. And hopefully this makes everyone step back and pause. And like I said, it's miraculous the kid is doing as well as he is. He's in good spirits. And we're just going to, we're going to put our support and love behind Ricky and work through this. With that being said, it is a game week. But this really makes you stop and reflect on how precious life is. And he's a very fortunate young man. And we're just, we're so grateful for so many people that allowed the outcome to be as good as it could possibly be. So with that, I'll take some questions."
Can you address how Ricky is physically right now? It's probably maybe a premature question, but are you confident that he can make a contribution and get on the field this season?
"Oh, yeah. He's doing remarkably well. 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."
Did the bullet strike a rib? What kind of damage did it do?
"No, it didn't. It was through and through is kind of how they described it. Like I said, multiple people down there said this is about as good as outcome as you could have in this situation."
I know you don't monitor or tell players what to do at all times, but does this make you rethink or readjust things you tell players about their personal security?
"We're always concerned about that. The young man had done an autograph signing and was down buying some luggage. That's what he was doing. He was buying some luggage for our road trips. We had some time off this weekend because of the kind of the Bye week before the season that now is. So we should all be able to do that. So we always are talking to our guys about being safe and being aware. Ricky was tremendous, the poise he showed during the ordeal. But yeah, I worry about my own kids. I feel like our players are like kids. We're all family. Yeah, you do worry. But, I think we've all got to live life too. We should be able to do that and not be concerned with those things."
Does the organization have a plan to help him through any PTSD that he may potentially experience?
"Yeah, of course we do. We have tremendous resources with that. We have made it available. I think Ricky embraces that. That's going to be on his call, but we'll help him through this in every way."
To clarify, is there an injury that needs like a rehab of any sort or is it just a matter of kind of a healing a wound?
"Kind of healing of the wound. Obviously when something like that happens, there is some level of trauma."
Will sergeant Joelle be at the game Monday?
"I hope so. We'll stay tuned. I think there'd be some cool stuff."
Obviously, a tragic situation, but just from afar, have you been able to kind of look at what kind of impact the whole thing has had on the team?
"Sobering. It was very sobering. You never love to get any call with regards to your players where they're in danger or peril. The earliest calls that I received were extremely scary, 'hey, we believe Ricky's been shot in the chest and that outcome's not usually a good one.' So that was a tough, tough Saturday. It was a tough ride down to San Francisco General. So grateful that everything worked out the way it did."
What advice have you given Ricky being that it's been a whirlwind of a year? You go from the Draft coming into preseason, injured, you practice a little, you're injured again, you come back, or at least you're working your way back, but then something like this, so traumatic happens. What have you been able to kind of mentor him or say to him in the time you've talked to him to kind of keep his mind at bay?
"Yeah, I think some of his earliest concerns is when he could play. He's asking me and I'm like 'I don't know' [laughter]. 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 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 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."
