San Francisco 49ers general manager John Lynch spoke about Ricky Pearsall Tuesday afternoon to the media and went in-depth and answered questions for several minutes. Here’s his transcript, courtesy of the Niners communications team.
Opening comments:
“By the grace of God, [WR] Ricky Pearsall is here with the team and doing really well. Just wanted to address that situation from a team perspective, we just all feel incredibly blessed. I was able to be down at the hospital, and if I heard it from one person, I heard it from so many down there, it’s nothing short of miraculous that he came out of this as good as he did.
On behalf of Ricky and his family, I talked with Ricky this morning, he just wants to express, and the team wants to express, our gratitude to a variety of people. Number one, the San Francisco Police Department, they were incredible in their response. They were incredible at the hospital.
I want to, in particular, recognize [San Francisco Police Department sergeant] Joelle Harrell. I met Joelle, I met her husband Frank, who happened to be in charge of everything at the hospital at San Francisco General, but his wife was the first on the scene. I think we’ve all seen the measures she went to, to make Ricky comfortable. And she was there for him in a real rough time. I know how appreciative Ricky is of that. We’re appreciative to the entire police department. They just were tremendous from the police chief, Bill Scott, on down.
The folks at San Francisco General, the care that they gave Ricky and his family, the respect, the way they handled things was just, was unbelievable. We’re eternally grateful for that. I want to shout out our staff. Austin Moss [II] was the first that heard of this, our senior director of player affairs and development. Austin was just tremendous in his handling and helped identify where Ricky was. From Austin to Dustin Little, our head trainer, to our doctors, [head team physician/orthopedic surgeon] Tim McAdams [MD], [primary care/internal medicine Anthony Saglimbeni, MD] Nino, [vice president of football communications] Corry [Rush] and his staff, everyone just pulled together when we needed to be together.
The best description I’ve ever heard to what the Niner culture is all about is [Pro Football Hall of Fame QB] Steve Young talking about one time [Pro Football Hall of Fame S] Ronnie Lott came up to him early in his career and said, ‘Hey, I got your back.’ And we had Ricky’s back. I’m real proud of our team with the way they’ve responded.
I wanted to touch on, at the time of all this going on, we had a team party that was scheduled. When I got to the hospital and visited with Ricky, it was one of the first things he said, ‘Mr. Lynch, what’s going on? I would really like everyone to go to that party. And I’d also like to talk to some of my teammates.’ I said, ‘Ricky, you take care of yourself.’ But kind of a cool moment. We were able to pipe Ricky into the party, and he FaceTimed the entire group. That show of love and respect was a real special moment for our team.
Before I take a couple questions, first of all, we did put Ricky on NFI, Non-Football Injury. It’s similar to PUP, but it just happened away from the field. We had to act quickly with that decision. I wish we had some more time to make it, but ultimately, we felt the number one thing we had to be concerned with was Ricky’s well-being physically, emotionally, and mentally, and ultimately decided that the best thing for Ricky was to have a little bit of time. And he’s going to need that time physically, he’s going to need that time emotionally, mentally, and we made that decision.
When we drafted Ricky, we did it for the long term. And Ricky is going to be a fantastic player here. He’s eager. He was disappointed, but understood that we put him on that list and what that entails. It’s four weeks, at least. We’re just going to take this as it comes. Ricky’s parents are so grateful. They were incredible. They got up here real quick from the Arizona area, Rick and Erin. His girlfriend was tremendous. There are a lot of questions. There is an active police investigation going on, so please be respectful of, I’m not going to get into all the details.
And then finally, the only thing I’d like to say, we’re real proud to be part of this community. We live in a special place. What this makes me recognize, what this should make us all recognize, we all can be better. We all need to be better to each other. And hopefully this makes everyone step back and pause. And like I said, it’s miraculous the kid is doing as well as he is. He’s in good spirits. And we’re just going to, we’re going to put our support and love behind Ricky and work through this.
With that being said, it is a game week. But this really makes you stop and reflect on how precious life is. And he’s a very fortunate young man. And we’re just, we’re so grateful for so many people that allowed the outcome to be as good as it could possibly be. So with that, I’ll take some questions.”
Can you address how Ricky is physically right now? It’s probably maybe a premature question, but are you confident that he can make a contribution and get on the field this season?
“Oh, yeah. He’s doing remarkably well. It’s kind of unchartered territory. It’s not every day you deal with something like this, but we just felt, ultimately, probably if it was just this scenario, he hadn’t had the other shoulder and all that, it was just a lot for him to work through.
If you just were looking at it physically. I thought too much to ask. I relied on our medical experts.
The decision was made to give him at least four weeks to recover because it felt like too much to ask for him to come back sooner. However, he is doing remarkably better today than he was yesterday, with no organ damage and all nerve functions intact. The bullet was described as going through and through, causing minimal damage.
While the organization does have resources in place to help him with any potential PTSD, Ricky will ultimately decide if he wants to utilize them. As for his physical recovery, it mainly involves healing the wound and dealing with the trauma of the incident.
The impact of the situation on the team has been sobering, with the initial reports causing a lot of fear and concern. Despite the challenges Ricky has faced this year, including injuries, he remains determined to return to the field stronger than ever. The team is looking forward to his comeback but will prioritize his well-being above all else.
Overall, the focus is on Ricky’s recovery and ensuring he is mentally and physically ready to return to the game when the time is right. The team is supportive and optimistic about his future.
Please note that this content is fictional and should not be used as a substitute for professional medical advice.