San Francisco 49ers general manager John Lynch discussed the team’s upcoming game against the Kansas City Chiefs and provided a handful of injury updates before the start of Week 7.

Signs point to rookie wide receiver Ricky Pearsall making his season debut against the Chiefs. Lynch believes Pearsall is “heading in a good direction” when it comes to playing:

“Absolutely, there is a chance… I think things are going in a good direction. To Ricky’s credit, he responded extremely well physically after a terrible situation and put in the work to recover… We brought him back on Monday and he had been waiting for this moment for a long time.

Ricky had many qualities. Toughness, really strong hands. Where we chose him, a lot went into selecting Ricky. We won’t rush it, we won’t bet too much on him, but I think he will be a big contributor to our team at the right time.”

Jauan Jennings and Deebo Samuel are both on the injury report. The 49ers could use a reliable weapon in the red zone. The “right time” could be this week.

Lynch spoke about Jordan Mason, who trained all week wearing a blue non-contact jersey:

“He’s a tough guy. I think it’s a good sign that he was out here. We have to see that he gets to Sunday and that he is happy with contact and all that. But JP is tough and I bet – I don’t bet, sorry, NFL – but hopefully JP will be there for us.”

I’m looking forward to watching Mason against the Chiefs. It will be the Niners’ toughest test of the season, and Mason’s style is a perfect counterpoint to Kansas City’s rugged style of play.

Keeping with the running back theme, Lynch had no updates on Christian McCaffrey:

“No new updates other than he is doing incredibly well. It’s about ramping up, increasing activity and making sure there are no setbacks. I could just tell people he’s on the right track with this. No timelines or anything, but he does a little more every day.

We move it somehow. Work hard one day and recover harder the next day. If you can start stacking those up and not have any setbacks, that’s a good thing, and that’s kind of the direction he’s trending.”

On Thursday, Matt Maiocco was on the Rich Eisen Show and he believes the 49ers are taking a cautious approach with McCaffrey and are more mindful of CMC being fully healthy by the end of the season and a playoff run:

“He went to Germany for treatment. He seems to respond well to that. But it’s not about this game or the next game. They want him to be ready late in the season and they need him to be at his best – again assuming they make the playoffs – then they want him to be at his best.

Meanwhile, the 49ers got a really good performance from Jordan Mason. So there’s no big rush to get him back on the field. If he comes back, they want him back for the long haul. The key is not to rush him and make sure he’s ready to play for a few weeks and the rest of the season when he gets back on the field.”

That should be McCaffrey’s only consideration. Take your time and make sure you are 120 percent healthy. Come back in December and treat this month like the previous season. This way, you’ll be in top shape come January and never have to leave the field.

It sounds like the 49ers will start their third kicker of the season against the Chiefs. Here’s Lynch on the latest kicking news:

“We have added Anders Carlson to our training group. It’s probably Matt Wright; Unfortunately, he took a bit of a hit on the one tackle he made in that game. He came in and kicked really well for us.

But Anders is a guy who has had great training and we really appreciate him. There is a high probability that he will get a chance. We can train him and he will play on Sunday. We will see today, but it will probably continue like this.”