One concern that has blossomed during the San Francisco 49ers‘ three-game win streak is the alarming lack of production from their 2024 first-round pick, wide receiver Ricky Pearsall.

Pearsall sustained a knee injury in Week 4 and didn’t return until the 49ers visited the Arizona Cardinals in Week 11. In that game Pearsall caught just one pass for zero yards. In three games since his return he has just five catches for 20 yards on nine targets. In his first four games of the year he had 20 catches for 327 yards on 29 targets while looking like the team’s No. 1 option in the passing game.

His lack of productivity since his return has been head-scratching, but offensive coordinator Klay Kubiak on Thursday in a press conference insisted there isn’t an underlying issue. Instead, he pointed to specific examples of missed opportunities in each game.

“It’s circumstantial,” Kubiak said. “I think every game’s different. I think you go back, the Arizona game, I think was his first game back and we targeted him a lot and there was coverages that dictated where the ball went. I think Carolina, we did target him a handful of times and [QB] Brock [Purdy] missed a few throws on a couple and we got into a situation where we were trying to run the ball in the fourth quarter. Then the Cleveland game, there weren’t many ops and he did take advantage of some of his ops in that game where he beat man-coverage a few times and he made some big plays. So it’s situational.

“Ricky’s not doing a thing wrong. He’s practicing his butt off, he’s competing, he looks good. And that’s football sometimes. That’s the life of a receiver. Sometimes the ball comes your way, sometimes it doesn’t. And just keep your head down, keep playing and good things tend to happen. So that’s the plan.”

The 49ers are on the precipice of the postseason and if they’re going to be dangerous in the playoffs it’s going to require them getting more from their top wide receiver than they’ve gotten the last three weeks.

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