SANTA CLARA – Ricky Pearsall was one of the NFL’s most disappointing first-round picks this season.

To be fair, he missed the first six games after being shot in the chest. And he looked promising in his first few games. But in the 49ers’ last five games, he has just 2 catches on 9 targets for just 21 yards.

Despite his meager performance, head coach Kyle Shanahan remains encouraged by Pearsall.

“I think Ricky is doing a great job,” Shanahan said Wednesday. “I know everyone is talking about the gunshot wound, but what people don’t realize is, I think I said it a few weeks ago, he only had three training sessions before that gunshot wound. He missed all the OTAs and all of training camp and then.” The shot came to us from Florida basically in the middle of the season. I thought he did a great job coming back and trying to learn and practice. Green Bay He’s battled through here the last few weeks. I think he made some big catches last week and I hope that continues in the next three games.

Shanahan makes a good point. Pearsall, who missed most of training camp, probably affected him even more than the shot. All-Pro wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk also missed training camp and was extremely rusty through the first seven weeks of the season before suffering a knee injury. Why shouldn’t Pearsall fight too?

Let’s reserve judgment until next year, when he goes through a full off-season with the team.

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