NFL player Ricky Pearsall has been released from hospital after he was shot in the chest during an attempted robbery in San Francisco.

Pearsall, 23, "sustained a bullet wound to his chest" and was in a "serious but stable condition" according to his team the San Francisco 49ers, following the incident by the city's Union Square on Saturday afternoon.

In an update on Sunday, the team said he has since been released and continues to recover.

Police say a 17-year-old suspect is in custody and "charges are pending".

Footage shared on social media showed a shirtless Pearsall being walked to an ambulance by paramedics and sitting on a gurney as he held a shirt to his chest.

Police said upon arrival at the scene of the incident they found two males suffering injuries and both were taken to hospital.

"During the preliminary investigation, officers learned one of the subjects attempted to rob the victim, San Francisco 49ers player Ricky Pearsall," they said in a statement.

"During the attempted robbery, a physical altercation ensued, and both the suspect and victim were injured."

David Lombardi, the San Francisco 49ers reporter for The Athletic, shared a post made by Pearsall's mother, Erin, on social media.

In it, she said that "he was shot in the chest and it exited out his back."

"Thanks be to GOD it missed his vital organs," Erin Pearsall wrote. "He is in good spirits right now."

In their statement on Sunday, the San Francisco 49ers said Pearsall and the team are thankful to local police and emergency medical personnel, as well as doctors at the San Francisco General Hospital where he was treated.

Pearsall was a first-round draft pick by the 49ers in April, when the best college players are chosen to join the NFL.

He has just returned to practice from a shoulder injury before the 49ers play their first game of the new season on 10 September.