The 2025 season was rough for Ricky Pearsall, Jordan Watkins and Jacob Cowing. The trio missed a combined 38 games this past season due to various injuries.
However, all trio are back, healthy, and making great strides at OTAs. And head coach Kyle Shanahan has noticed.
“Ricky, we got to see throughout the year battling his injuries. Jordan and Jake, we didn’t get to see quite as much of. They all came back healthy,” Shanahan said. “I was really excited how Jordan and Jake came back though, you could tell they came back, it wasn’t just healthy. You could tell they’ve been putting work in and coming in here in shape and stuff has allowed them to get farther ahead in these five weeks than just coming here to get shape. They’ve come here to play and work.”
Pearsall, who was the 49ers’ first-round pick in 2024, has battled injuries in both of his two NFL seasons but played nine games this past year. Cowing and Watkins, both former fourth-rounders, haven’t seen the field much.
Cowing, a 2024 fourth-round pick out of Arizona, was placed on injured reserve in late August and missed San Francisco’s entire 2025 campaign after a hamstring injury on the first day of training camp. It was the second consecutive summer derailed by hamstring trouble for the speedster, who played just 106 offensive snaps as a rookie in 2024, catching four passes on six targets while spending most of his time as a punt returner.
Watkins had a similarly frustrating debut. The 2025 fourth-round pick out of Ole Miss suffered a high-ankle sprain in the preseason but still made the 53-man roster as a rookie, finishing 2025 with two receptions for 26 yards across four active games — a healthy scratch for the remainder of the season.
Pearsall is locked into a role on this offense, but Cowing and Watkins will be battling for roster spots. Now entering their second and third years, respectively, the pair will be battling with veteran Christian Kirk and rookie De’Zhaun Stribling, with Demarcus Robinson around as well. With neither Cowing nor Watkins having made a substantial impact on offense to date, it projects as a battle between the two for one of the final spots on the roster — though Cowing’s potential role in the return game could give him a leg up.
If the OTAs buzz is any indication, both players may be making that decision harder than expected.
This article originally appeared on Niners Wire: Kyle Shanahan excited to see trio of oft-injured WRs back in 2026
Reporting by Oliver G., Niners Wire / Niners Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
