49ers lose Brandon Aiyuk to a serious knee injury after getting Ricky Pearsall back
The emotional lift of Ricky Pearsall's return to the field 50 days after he was shot lasted less than a half. Then the San Francisco 49ers had to deal with some more bad news at receiver.
Brandon Aiyuk went down with a right knee injury in Sunday's 28-18 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs that coach Kyle Shanahan fears is a season-ending ACL tear.
Shanahan said the team was waiting for confirmation from an MRI scheduled for Monday, but the expectation is that Aiyuk will miss the rest of the season in the latest injury blow to a San Francisco team already missing All-Pro running back Christian McCaffrey and other key players.
"I know a lot of teams deal with that," Shanahan said about the spate of injuries. "Not every team, but we're dealing with it hard right now. It got worse today. It's tough."
Aiyuk got hurt late in the first half when was hit on the knee after making a catch in the red zone. He stayed down for a few minutes before being carted to the locker room and was quickly ruled out for the rest of the game.
Aiyuk, who signed a $120 million, four-year extension in late August following a lengthy contract "hold in," has 25 catches for 374 yards this season. He was a second-team All-Pro last season when he had 1,342 yards receiving.
San Francisco was already without two of its other top receivers with Jauan Jennings sidelined by a hip injury that is not expected to be long-term and Deebo Samuel dealing with an illness that limited him to four snaps against Kansas City.
That put more responsibility on the plate of Pearsall, who was activated from the non-football injury list on Saturday. Pearsall came in for his first play on San Francisco's opening drive and caught his first career pass late in the second quarter. He finished with three catches for 21 yards.
"He was going to get eased in a little today," Shanahan said. "That changed a little bit with Deebo going out and it changed a bunch with Aiyuk going out. So he had to do more than we expected today and I was proud of him for handling it. It's great to have him back."
Pearsall returned to practice this past Monday for the first time since he was shot in the chest in San Francisco's Union Square area on Aug. 31. He was hospitalized overnight but avoided damage to any organs and nerves and was back working out at the team facility the following week.
Pearsall, who was drafted in the first round in April, missed the majority of training camp practices with injuries to his hamstring and shoulder but was on track to be ready for the opener before he was shot.
He began his college career at Arizona State and transferred to Florida for his final two seasons. He had 65 catches for 965 yards and four touchdowns last season for the Gators and finished his college career with 159 catches for 2,420 yards and 14 TDs.
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