49ers are happy to have Ricky Pearsall with them as they prepare for the game against the Jets

SANTA CLARA – Ricky Pearsall laced up his black and white Nike shoes. He wore a gray 49ers T-shirt that matched his sweatpants. He turned his gray cap backwards. A football twirled in his hands. He high-fived one teammate, then another.

Every movement, every sight, every breath is certainly not something to be taken for granted.

“It was just incredible to watch him,” said coach Kyle Shanahan, who spoke Thursday for the first time since Pearsall was shot in the chest during an attempted robbery at San Francisco's Union Square on Saturday.

Pearsall watched Thursday's practice like a kid wishing he could just play ball. Instead, he could only throw the ball in the air to himself, unaffected by a bullet that struck the rookie wide receiver just two inches below a tattoo of praying hands on his chest, according to Shanahan.

Pearsall has been a constant presence at the 49ers' headquarters since his one-day hospitalization. Instead of providing a distraction ahead of Monday night's season opener against the New York Jets, this year's first-round draft pick is providing inspiration.

“Thank God he's still with us today. It was a crazy situation and I'm so glad he's here in the building with us,” said linebacker Fred Warner.

Pearsall is ineligible to play for at least the first four games while on the reserve/non-football injured list. Immediately after his gunshot injury, however, Pearsall had other plans.

“I still believe I can play against the Jets,” Pearsall said Saturday afternoon in a FaceTime call from Shanahan's hospital bed.

“I was like, 'Dude, what are you talking about? There are other things (in life),'” Shanahan said. “When the adrenaline goes away, that (the mental aspect) is a much bigger deal.”

Pearsall is back on his feet, attending meetings and will have to wait a week before he really starts to sweat it out, then he will ramp up his rehab to make his NFL debut as early as next month.

Shanahan said it took him and the 49ers organization about an hour to find out which hospital Pearsall had been taken to after the afternoon shooting. “When we got to him, everything was fine. He called me on FaceTime and for the first time I knew he was OK,” said Shanahan, who then relayed that positive prognosis to the rest of the 49ers as they arrived at the coach's house for a planned team party.

Shanahan said he advised his team not to press Pearsall with further details about the shooting, adding: “I told the team I don't want to put him through this 80 times. He knows how much everyone cares about him. He loves being around him. It's all up to him. Everyone is trying to give him space and let him process through this process. It's a pretty big psychological burden as well.”

TEAM CAPTAINS

Defensive end Nick Bosa half-jokingly called it “big news” that he and the other 49ers captains would get reserved parking spaces closer to the locker room.

Bosa and linebacker Fred Warner are the only defensive players who are captains, while the ball, er, captain's badge was also handed out to Brock Purdy, Kyle Juszczyk, Deebo Samuel and Trent Williams.

“To be captain of a team like this with incredible players who have done great things in this league is an honor and I want to cherish that honor,” said Bosa, who was captain in 2022 but was not last season as his absence lasted into the first week of the season.

McCAFFREY STILL LIMITED

Running back Christian McCaffrey looked good in practice but remains limited by a calf and Achilles problem, which is not a new injury, Shanahan said. Thursday was the first day since last season that the 49ers must submit an official injury and participation report. McCaffrey participated in Tuesday's light, hour-long workout, which was his first time back with the team since Aug. 4.

Defensive end Yetur Gross-Matos (knee) and linebacker Dee Winters (ankle), who both played on the sidelines, did not participate in Thursday's practice. Other limited players: wide receiver Jauan Jennings (ankle), running back Isaac Guerendo (groin), safety Talanoa Hufanga (knee) and guard Aaron Banks (pinky finger).

QUARTERBACK ROTATION

Brandon Allen beat out Josh Dobbs to become Brock Purdy's immediate replacement, at least for Monday's opening game, Shanahan announced. Allen did not play last season as the third quarterback behind Purdy and Sam Darnold, who now starts for the Minnesota Vikings.

RODGERS ON THE 49ERS

As Aaron Rodgers prepares to face the 49ers for the 15th time in his 20-year career, the Chico native and California native claims he no longer holds any grudges for not being drafted No. 1 by his youth team in 2005.

“It's all different people. I outlasted a lot of people there. A lot of them are still coaching in the league. It's a great team there,” Rodgers told Jets reporters. “I played against John Lynch, that's how old I am. And of course I had battles with Kyle. And (defensive coordinator Nick) Sorensen, I think I played against him too. There's a great familiarity there.”

In fact, Rodgers was still Brett Favre's backup when the Packers came to Denver and beat Lynch's Broncos in 2007. Sorensen actually played against Rodgers in 2009, and it was Sorensen who made the tackle on the second-half kickoff for the Browns.

“Obviously it's fun to come back to the Bay Area. But it's really just another game,” Rodgers added. “If this had happened in your first or second year as a starter, you'd have a different energy when you feel like all the guys have passed you by. There's a certain bitterness that you hold onto. I don't have any of that anymore.”

Rodgers also bears no grudge against the 49ers' new pass rusher, Leonard Floyd, who was the one who sacked Rodgers on the play that caused him to tear his Achilles tendon in the Jets' opening game last year against the Buffalo Bills.