San Francisco 49ers general manager John Lynch appeared on Bay Area radio station KNBR Friday morning, where part of the conversation focused on wide receiver Ricky Pearsall, who was shot in the chest this past Saturday.
Pearsall spent that evening at San Francisco General Hospital and was released on Sunday. By Monday, the rookie wideout was working out at the 49ers' facilities. He even made an appearance at Thursday's practice to support his teammates.
After the scary incident on Saturday, Pearsall immediately expressed his desire to return to the field.
"That's what he said within a minute when I got to the hospital," Lynch said. "He was, 'Hey, when can I play?'"
Obviously, that wasn't going to happen right away.
The 49ers placed Pearsall on the non-football injury (NFI) list, which makes him ineligible to play in the team's first four games.
"We had to quickly kind of take in this whole situation, and remember, Ricky has come off a couple injuries during training camp and the offseason," Lynch commented. "And so we had to make a quick decision. And we just felt like, talking to all the experts, that the best thing for Ricky would be to take a little bit of time to get physically right.
"But then, also the trauma, that part. And so we put him on the NFI list, which dictates that he's got to be out for at least four games, and then we'll take it from there. We're going to take it slow, but I will tell you, he continues to amaze me with how well he's doing.
"I think people saw some video yesterday of him out here twirling the ball around, and three days ago that wasn't it. He was really holding that thing like it was immobile, the right side of his body. And so he's coming incredibly quick, and a really miraculous outcome for something that was as scary as it was."
Additionally, Lynch wanted to make one thing clear: Pearsall expects to play this season, and the 49ers expect their first-round draft pick to get on the field.
"Absolutely, he's going to play this year," Lynch said. "We're going to give him the time to do it, when it's right for him, and that's physically, mentally, emotionally. But I can tell you he's doing really well."
You can listen to the entire conversation with Lynch below.