Ricky Pearsall injury news: What status means for Week 18 vs. Seahawks

The San Francisco 49ers and Seattle Seahawks square off in a huge Week 18 matchup at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California. The season finale between these two is for the NFC West title and also the No. 1 seed in the NFC playoff bracket.

The 49ers have been dealing with an assortment of injuries but should have some key playmakers available to them. Wide receiver Ricky Pearsall is among them as he is expected to play in spite of ongoing knee and ankle issues.

Game status: The 49ers have announced Ricky Pearsall is INACTIVE for the Week 18 contest.

Game day update: The 49ers are “hopeful” Pearsall will play on Saturday, per ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler.

Pearsall has dealt with an assortment of injuries this season. He opened the season strong with a pair of 100-yard performances in his first four games. He suffered a PCL injury in the fourth game of the season and missed the next six weeks. It was a slow return from there, and then he injured his ankle on a hip-drop tackle on the first play of Week 15. He returned and finished the game, but then missed the team’s Week 16 contest. He was limited in practice ahead of Week 17 and ended up playing, finishing the game with five receptions for 85 yards.

This week, Pearsall has been limited all three days of practice and received a questionable designation. There was no indication of an aggravation last Sunday, so you should expect him to play.

The 49ers could also have George Kittle back in this game. While that’s one more mouth to feed for Brock Purdy, the 49ers offense has been on fire of late. Of course, they are facing a much tougher matchup this week in the Seahawks. The Bears and Colts had solid enough defenses this year, but the Seahawks defense is a sizable step up. From a purely injury perspective, there’s no reason to avoid Pearsall. He’s a WR3 this week with some WR2 upside.