49ers observations: Brock Purdy fuels NFC Wild Card Game win vs. Seahawks

New San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Ricky Pearsall was a teammate of Brandon Aiyuk for one season (2019) at Arizona State. It was Aiyuk's final season with the Sun Devils and Pearsall's first, before transferring to Florida after the 2021 season. Now, the two are teammates again after the 49ers selected Pearsall with the No. 31 overall pick. Speaking to reporters after the first round, general manager John Lynch and head coach Kyle Shanahan revealed that they received a text from Aiyuk after the pick was made. "Fire pick. Can't lie," Aiyuk said in the text, much to Lynch and Shanahan's delight. Shortly after hearing his name called, Pearsall spoke to reporters via Zoom and was asked about his relationship with Aiyuk. "We

Taylor Swift, the Kansas City Chiefs, and a Super Bowl overtime matchup. If the NFL is scripted, the league came up with a good one this past season—unless you're a San Francisco 49ers fan. During his inaugural youth football camp at Levi's Stadium this past weekend, 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy faced a candid inquiry from one young participant: Is the NFL scripted? "No, the NFL is not scripted," a smiling Purdy responded. However, the quarterback added, "Good

New San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Ricky Pearsall arrived in Santa Clara this morning, ready to tour his new NFL home before speaking with the media. Pearsall briefly spoke to reporters via Zoom on Thursday night after learning that the 49ers had selected him as the No. 31 overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft. During that conversation, he revealed that he had once played against Brock Purdy in high school, acknowledging that the now-49ers quarterback had put up about 70 points against his team. Pearsall had an opportunity to speak to Purdy after learning they had become teammates. "He just reached out to me this morning, just congratulating me, saying, 'We're going to get to work,'" Pearsall shared. "... We're gonna get to work, for sure. And he's from Arizona,

The San Francisco 49ers appear to have found their quarterback. It was a bumpy road on the journey to locate him, too. There was the up-and-down tenure of Jimmy Garoppolo, whose relationship with Head Coach Kyle Shanahan seemed dysfunctional, at times. Then there was the short-lived Trey Lance experiment. Garoppolo and Lance are no longer being with the team, and one major reason is the emergence of Brock Purdy as the team's QB. Purdy finished his second season with a trip to the Super Bowl, after having a Pro Bowl season in which he finished with 4,280 yards and 31 touchdowns. He also led the league in multiple statistics, including passer rating (113.0) and QBR (72.8). Additionally, Purdy finished fourth in NFL MVP voting. But a year ago, no one knew what to