49ers place Ricky Pearsall on injured reserve, De’Zhaun Stribling sits with hamstring tightness

The San Francisco 49ers added a new layer of depth-chart uncertainty on Saturday, placing receiver Ricky Pearsall on injured reserve. With Pearsall unavailable, the team turned its attention to other options working with the offense, and one of the players expected to factor in, rookie wideout De’Zhaun Stribling, did not practice.

According to reporting from Yahoo Sports, Stribling was out of practice because of hamstring tightness. The 49ers characterized the issue as tightness rather than a strain, a distinction that can matter for how teams evaluate recovery timelines and day-to-day participation.

Hamstring problems are often closely monitored because tightness can be an early sign of a more significant muscle or tendon injury. Even when teams describe the condition as minor, missing practice keeps a player from executing at full speed, particularly during routes, acceleration, and short-area separation drills that stress the back of the leg.

Pearsall’s placement on injured reserve also shifts how the 49ers can distribute snaps in the receiver rotation. Injured reserve does not just remove one player from the field, it forces coaching staffs to re-balance personnel packages, target distribution, and practice reps for the remaining receivers, especially in camp weeks when timing and chemistry are built through repetition.

Stribling’s situation is the immediate follow-up the team has to manage. When a rookie is limited, the practice environment becomes even more important for learning route concepts, cadence reads, and quarterback communication. If he remains out, the 49ers would likely rely more heavily on other receivers to absorb those reps, which can influence who earns favorable opportunities in preseason and the early part of the regular season.

The 49ers have not publicly detailed a specific diagnosis, but the team’s reported framing of Stribling’s hamstring as tightness, not a strain, suggests the organization views it as something that could be addressed through rest and incremental ramp-up. Still, the fact that he was held out of practice indicates he was not cleared to work through the stiffness at full intensity.

For now, the practical question is whether Stribling returns to practice next, and if so, whether his participation is full-go or limited. Teams often use partial sessions to test range of motion and explosiveness before expanding workload, and camp participation can become the clearest indicator of how quickly a tightness issue is resolving.

If Stribling is able to get back on the field soon, the 49ers can aim to stabilize their rookie development while continuing to adjust for Pearsall’s absence. If the tightness lingers, the receiver room’s competition for offseason reps could tighten quickly, making subsequent injury-report updates a key item to watch in the coming days.