In the sports world, there's one label that athletes never want to be associated with.
That label is “injury prone.” Having that label is evidence of unreliability, and it takes a long time to shake off that label. Unfortunately for San Francisco 49ers rookie Ricky Pearsall, he is beginning to move toward injury-prone status.
Pearsall has yet to play in an NFL game, but he's already been injured at an alarming rate. It all started when he donned a no-contact blue jersey during offseason team activities. At the time, it was unclear what his injury was.
It's good to see he was still able to practice, but he still had an injury that limited his availability. Then Pearsall injured his hamstring and was placed on the non-football injured list. As a result, he missed the first week of training camp. Thankfully, it didn't take much longer, as he returned with the best chance ever.
That opportunity would be to soak up the practice time that would have been given to Brandon Aiyuk. But once again, Piersall was hurt. He injured his shoulder during practice on Aug. 6 and missed the second half of the session. Kyle Shanahan revealed it was the same shoulder injury that limited him during OTAs.
The extent of the injury is still unknown, but it's enough that he will miss practice this week and the preseason opener against the Tennessee Titans. Pearsall has suffered three injuries total since starting practice with the 49ers. I wouldn't say he's injury-prone just yet, but there's no denying that he's not.
Pearsall now has no problem playing in Week 1 of the regular season and could be healthy for the entire season, which would move him some way away from the injury-prone label even if he misses a few games.
But given how well he's held up so far, reinjury is a real possibility. He's already re-injured the same shoulder and strained his hamstring, two injuries worth keeping an eye on for recurrence once the regular season gets underway.
If any new injuries occur, he will be on the borderline of being an injury-prone player.
