FANTASY FOOTBALL NEWS

Ricky Pearsall Gets Encouraging Usage in WR Ghost Town

By Matt Schauf | Updated on Mon, Sep 8 2025 10:30 AM UTC

WR Ricky Pearsall tallied 108 yards on four catches in Sunday's win over the Seahawks. A 45-yard, fourth-quarter play gave that receiving line a big boost, but Pearsall easily led his WR corps in playing time, usage, and production. His seven targets trailed only Christian McCaffrey (10). Pearsall's 84% snap share led his nearest WR teammate by nearly 20 percentage points. He ran a route on 89.7% of Brock Purdy dropbacks as one of just three 49ers to eclipse 20 routes. Jauan Jennings checked in second among that group and caught two of his five targets before leaving with a shoulder injury in the fourth quarter.

2025 Fantasy Football Impact

Russell Gage, Marquez Valdes-Scantling, and Skyy Moore rounded out the WR crew for this contest but trailed well behind the top two in playing time. Here's how the group finished in total snaps:

Pearsall 64
Jennings 50
Gage 28
Valdes-Scantling 27
Moore 3

And here were their route totals (according to Pro Football Focus):

Pearsall 35
Jennings 26
Gage 19
MVS 15
Moore 1

Pearsall, McCaffrey, and George Kittle (who left in the first half with a hamstring injury) were the only Niners to catch more than two passes.

Regardless of Kittle's and Jennings' Week 2 statuses coming off their injuries, Pearsall looks like he'll be a weekly candidate for starting roles in fantasy leagues of 12 teams or more, and a regular candidate in 10-team leagues as well.

The schedule holds no matchup landmines over at least the next five weeks.

Matt Schauf, Editor

Matt has earned two Fantasy Pros accuracy awards for IDP rankings and won thousands of dollars as a player across best ball, dynasty, and high-stakes fantasy formats. He has been creating fantasy football content for more than 20 years, with work featured by Sporting News, Rotoworld, Athlon, Sirius XM, and others. He's been with Draft Sharks since 2011.