3 biggest overreactions with 49ers' 2024 preseason in the books

The 49ers' 2024 preseason is done, and it's always a good time to overreact to what took place.

The San Francisco 49ers' 2024 NFL preseason is complete after head coach Kyle Shanahan's squad landed a 24-24 tie on the road against the Las Vegas Raiders, a game that could have ended crazily but nevertheless had a pretty entertaining final play.

Shanahan's 1-1-1 record during the exhibition phase isn't exactly revealing. Coaches don't care about final scores, wins and losses during the preseason, yet these three games do reveal some notable takeaways.

They can also generate some pretty good overreactions, too.

Considering the entirety of the preseason, let's look at the three biggest ones that'll make fans worry even when they probably shouldn't.

Overreaction No. 1: The offensive line will be bad

Friday night reemphasized the fact the Niners miss All-Pro left tackle Trent Williams, who is still absent amid a holdout, and they also are eagerly awaiting left guard Aaron Banks.

Without those two names, the offensive line struggled to protect all four quarterbacks throughout the night, suggesting San Francisco's O-line is going to be a primary weakness despite the emergence of rookie guard Dominick Puni into the starting lineup.

The Williams situation has to be resolved, yes. But one has to figure the 49ers will manage that prior to Week 1, and Banks is expected to return from a finger injury by then, too.

It'd be a reasonable concern if both Williams and Banks were guaranteed to be out for an extended period of time, yes.

But that won't be the case.

Overreaction No. 2: Ricky Pearsall is going to be a bust

The Niners' top pick from this year's NFL Draft, wide receiver Ricky Pearsall, missed all of the preseason and most of training camp because of a shoulder injury.

It's not ideal for a high-profile prospect to miss such time, although the hard reality is that Pearsall probably isn't going to have a huge impact on the offense in year one, at least not with both wideouts Deebo Samuel and Brandon Aiyuk still rostered.

Shanahan told reporters after the game that Persall's injury is common and isn't a major concern.

While Pearsall might not have an immediate-impact kind of rookie year, it's far too soon to declare him a complete whiff.

Overreaction No. 3: Brock Purdy will come back down to earth

Unlike his exhibition debut in preseason Week 2, quarterback Brock Purdy unveiled some impressive moments against Vegas, including a 27-yard strike to Samuel on the game's very first play.

Purdy was also sacked four times, too, while tossing an interception, likely prompting the box score critics to suggest he will look far more like the last pick of the 2022 draft than the kind of player who contended for an MVP last season.

Yet it's important to remember there was very little game planning on the part of Shanahan (there rarely is during the preseason), and that pick bounced of Samuel's hands anyway, suggesting it wasn't exactly on the quarterback.

If those kinds of stats pop up in the regular season, it might be time to worry.

They're preseason stats, and no one remembers those.

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