Kyle Shanahan answered a lot of questions about receiver Ricky Piersall on Thursday, but the 49ers coach wasn't satisfied with one of them.
The rookie was shot in the chest during an attempted armed robbery in San Francisco's Union Square on Saturday.
Shanahan was hosting the team's annual pre-kickoff celebration at the time, while general manager John Lynch traveled to the hospital to be with Pearsall.
“When you first heard the news about Ricky, as you waited to find out how serious his injury was, did you ever feel like you wanted to drop everything and rush to the hospital with John and be by his side?” asked Sports Illustrated's Grant Cone. At a press conference on Thursday.
“Yeah, obviously,” Shanahan fired back. “But I'm also responsible for a team. I'm not doing this just to keep people from saying something negative about me. I try to make the right decisions for the people that I'm responsible for. I had 100 people planning to gather at my house an hour and a half away. I try to do things for the right reasons. If you know me, there's no question about that. I'm not going to do something just to keep people from saying something negative about me.”
Shanahan's decision to remain in the party allowed him to update the rest of the team more efficiently.
“Nobody knew exactly what was going on, so I was able to reassure everybody that he was OK and it was a miracle,” Shanahan said. “I think he was shot about two inches below his praying hands tattoo. This was an incredible event… I wasn't able to get the whole team in, but I was really glad that I was able to get that across to everybody that arrived. Then about two hours later, Ricky came on scene and talked to everybody.”
Pearsall, the 49ers' first-round pick in June's draft, was released from the hospital Sunday, a day after he was shot by a 17-year-old boy who was trying to steal his Rolex.
However, the wide receiver fought back and in the scuffle the attacker was shot.
The high school senior expressed remorse for his actions during an arraignment hearing Wednesday on charges of attempted murder, assault with a semi-automatic rifle and attempted robbery.
The 23-year-old Pearsall joined his teammates on Monday but will miss at least the first four weeks of the season on the reserve/non-football injured list, but the team remains confident he will play this season.
The 49ers' plan is for him to gradually return to training with a “no sweat” week before beginning his rehab, but Pearsall told coaches he still thinks he can play against the Jets.
“He likes to be around the guys,” Shanahan said. “That's all up to him, but they're just trying to give him that space and let him go through this process, because it's physical, but it's also really taxing mentally.”
