49ers select De'Zhaun Stribling-WR-Ole Miss with the 33rd pick in the 2026 NFL Draft

Originally posted by Giedi:

Originally posted by NYniner85:

Originally posted by Giedi:
I think his speed alone will scare press man coverage back a bit, specially with rub routs and maybe Mike Evans/Pearsall screening the DB's away from pressing Stribling. Point being we'll see if he can learn the route tree and run the routes that Aiyuk did. Its a gamble, but it's the mental part that we fans just don't have info on and they do, on whether or not Stribling can pick up the offense.

I like the fact he's a bigger receiver and, in my opinion, bigger receivers tend to be more durable. Jauan Jennings is an example. Sometimes availability is a talent in itself too. I'm hoping they did a good job drafting players the injury bug will be too scared to bite.

Boy I recommend watching Crocker's breakdown on him with some film. He's very objective on players and overall its not very good. I agree with a lot of what he's saying and it why I didn't understand the top 64 talk about this kid prior to the draft (let alone 33rd overall).

The team doesn't teach them how to run routes. That's something he has to learn how to do. He will need off season coaching and at this point in his football career (5 yrs in college) you gotta be more polished at it imo.

also it's not learning the route tree, I'm sure he can figure out how to run whatever Kyle wants him to run, it's him being able to run it well, that's the issue. Footwork and timing matter a ton…hopefully he magically changes and proves everyone wrong

Isn't Crocker a DB?

But I did take a look at some of Stribling's highlights. They were impressive. A lot of dig routes but that's probably because defenses were scared of his speed, which I think he'll scare defenses the same way in the NFL. Defenses have to respect that speed of his. His position coaches will teach him how to run routes, example Mike McDaniel would show his receivers basketball tapes of guys like Stephan Curry doing crossover dribbles to teach his WR's how to wrongfoot DB's on press man coverage.

He'll either learn how to run Kyle's routes and learn how to break press man coverage, or he'll be cut. Simple. But overall, I like his size, speed, hands, YAC, and short area agility and if he has trouble breaking press man there's routes he can run that avoids press-man, considering Mike Evans, Pearsall (when healthy) are on the team. Timing with Purdy will come as long as he stays healthy. Those just takes a lot of reps and time to get it down. Stribling is only 23, he's still learning the game and will still have a long and potentially productive career at that age. He's not a 25 year old rookie like some of the other 2026 picks.

Not sure why it matters if he was a DB?


here's a thread, it's not all bad stuff. Listen I don't hate the player. Wasn't worth where he went at all. Hopefully he proves everyone wrong, we will see

Originally posted by northoakland510:
Yea he pointed out that like Grey defensive backs didn't fear his speed. They could get their hands on him and negate the advantage.

Not sure about this. There's a lot of examples of the defense being scared of his speed.

I think he will do great. In Kyle's offense, you just need to be where you need to be... there will be space for you to make something happen after. His breakaway speed will come in handy and will hopefully turn some of our FG ending drives, that had to settle for these past few years, into touchdowns.

Originally posted by northoakland510:
Yea he pointed out that like Grey defensive backs didn't fear his speed. They could get their hands on him and negate the advantage.

I think the difference is that Stribling is a much more physical player, where Gray was more of a prototypical #2/3 deep threat. Stribling can still have a successful career without being a dominant deep threat. He's already a dominant run blocker and a guy who racks up yards after the catch really well.

I think he was much better value later on but he's not one dimensional receiver like Gray.

One thing I'll say is Kyle rarely misses on early round WRs unless it's because they don't have it mentally. If Stribling is a Gold Helmet guy I have to imagine he has that.

My biggest issue with the pick was simply I felt he was a reach. I haven't heard anything to make me think otherwise. Obviously end of the day if he turns into a great player for us it will lessen the sting but what some people are missing is that people are upset because there is a real chance the 49ers could've had Stribling AND another player to help the team.

It's great that they have conviction within the building but they have to project what others teams are doing and risk it sometimes that your guy falls. If memory serves me correctly they had Kittle graded as a 3rd round pick but thought maybe they could get him later...and did.

That should be a lesson to them but I do understand if you think you have another Kittle in WR form...maybe it's not worth the risk. I still disagree but I do get it...

Originally posted by genus49:
One thing I'll say is Kyle rarely misses on early round WRs unless it's because they don't have it mentally. If Stribling is a Gold Helmet guy I have to imagine he has that.

My biggest issue with the pick was simply I felt he was a reach. I haven't heard anything to make me think otherwise. Obviously end of the day if he turns into a great player for us it will lessen the sting but what some people are missing is that people are upset because there is a real chance the 49ers could've had Stribling AND another player to help the team.

It's great that they have conviction within the building but they have to project what others teams are doing and risk it sometimes that your guy falls. If memory serves me correctly they had Kittle graded as a 3rd round pick but thought maybe they could get him later...and did.

That should be a lesson to them but I do understand if you think you have another Kittle in WR form...maybe it's not worth the risk. I still disagree but I do get it...

I think they had Brock Purdy rated as a 4rth round talent and let him fall to last pick. That should help ease those guys hurt feelings who say Kyle reaches on his picks too much.

Originally posted by Phoenix49ers:
I think the difference is that Stribling is a much more physical player, where Gray was more of a prototypical #2/3 deep threat. Stribling can still have a successful career without being a dominant deep threat. He's already a dominant run blocker and a guy who racks up yards after the catch really well.

I think he was much better value later on but he's not one dimensional receiver like Gray.

I hope he balls out, my only gripe is how they don't play the draft game well.

Originally posted by genus49:
One thing I'll say is Kyle rarely misses on early round WRs unless it's because they don't have it mentally. If Stribling is a Gold Helmet guy I have to imagine he has that.

My biggest issue with the pick was simply I felt he was a reach. I haven't heard anything to make me think otherwise. Obviously end of the day if he turns into a great player for us it will lessen the sting but what some people are missing is that people are upset because there is a real chance the 49ers could've had Stribling AND another player to help the team.

It's great that they have conviction within the building but they have to project what others teams are doing and risk it sometimes that your guy falls. If memory serves me correctly they had Kittle graded as a 3rd round pick but thought maybe they could get him later...and did.

That should be a lesson to them but I do understand if you think you have another Kittle in WR form...maybe it's not worth the risk. I still disagree but I do get it...

I agree that they may have still been able to draft Stribling if they had used their #27 on a guard but after missing a shot at a good DB I guess they were worried Stribling might be gone. He wasn't high on a lot of draft boards but I heard he was a late riser. Greg Cosell who does a great job of breaking down film thinks he'll be really good. It only takes one team that likes the same player as you to screw up your draft.

Crocker is already coming off as short sighted in recent podcasts. He has all but straight out asked is it the offense or the player. Other have pointed out the rout tree Stribling has ran on other teams, with Crocker's only response being he did not watch that or Stribling's pro-day.

I would not being posting Crocker as some sort of slam dunk expert on Stribling's game. It's a dude who will tell you to your face he has limited exposure to Stribling even if he calls it a "deep dive". That he somehow completed in one night during the middle of his beloved NBA playoffs. This is not a dude with even days of study on Stribling.

Originally posted by NYniner85:
Not sure why it matters if he was a DB?

Was difficult watching De'Zhaun Stribling in the Ole Miss offense. Not a ton of diversity in their route tree. Went to 2024 Oklahoma St film.

That's a corner who's worried about a receivers vertical speed. Impressive getting a corner to speed turn off a simple release pic.twitter.com/XARm48vKHg

— Eric Crocker (@CoachCrocky) April 25, 2026

here's a thread, it's not all bad stuff. Listen I don't hate the player. Wasn't worth where he went at all. Hopefully he proves everyone wrong, we will see

I'm not well versed in evaluating college players and so I'd rather have a guy with WR experience evaluate a WR. I like Eric, but I wouldn't totally rely on him for WR talent evaluations. That's just me and how I process things. There's other information sources I've seen (besides Eric) who've mentioned his upside more. At this point nobody knows if this guy is Jalen Hurd 2.0 or a faster Jauan Jennings. But like you said hopefully he'll prove his naysayers wrong.

Foo looks just like Fred 😆

Fred needs to bulk him up... he looks like he could fill up even more. Of course I don't mean David Boston like or anything, just a little big bigger.

Edit- it's not showing, but a Video from the 9ers official YT channel sit down interview with him.

Originally posted by NYniner85:
My guy Aiuyk could run some nasty routes coming out of ASU. Same with Ricky….With Stribling, I didn't see anything close to the route running ability that BA or Ricky has.

I understand we're trying to talk ourselves into the pick and I get the size speed combo but as a pure WR that you'd expect to get open via route running and having timing…he's pretty meh there.

Maybe a big slot with free releases and schemed up plays to get the ball in his hands, in no way or shape is that worth a top 33 pick plain and simple.

I knew the moment we keep moving down that they had talked themselves into a player they KNEW was gonna be available because it was gonna be a massive reach. Is what it is now. Hopefully he proves everyone wrong. I'm already hearing the TC reports of him not getting off press and his route running being massively underwhelming commentary.

You keep bringing up his route running; and look I get that may be what he could work on the most. But what kind of routes did Aiyuk and Pearsall run in college that you didn't see Strib run? Well I guess I have to ask first if you are basing this on only his Ole Miss tape?

Across his three schools (he played a ton of games) I've seen him run every single route that will be asked of him in Shannys offense. Drags, hook/curls, in and out routes in the short and intermediate, and of course the go route. Shanny himself highlighted his route running as a reason he liked him.

Originally posted by 49ers808:
You keep bringing up his route running; and look I get that may be what he could work on the most. But what kind of routes did Aiyuk and Pearsall run in college that you didn't see Strib run? Well I guess I have to ask first if you are basing this on only his Ole Miss tape?

Across his three schools (he played a ton of games) I've seen him run every single route that will be asked of him in Shannys offense. Drags, hook/curls, in and out routes in the short and intermediate, and of course the go route. Shanny himself highlighted his route running as a reason he liked him.

He may not be great at it like Aiyuk but I agree he definitely better than he's been giving credit

Originally posted by zeppfan1:
Yep, was disappointed we didn't choose Bisontis with 33. Plug and play, nasty G, no guessing/hoping he'll develop. Reminds me of the draft with us passing on Humphrey or '24 passing on Frazier.

I am absolutely pro trenches first. However, we needed a deep threat for years. Now we got one.
It's bad enough that the defenders don't respect Purdy's arm strength, not having a deep threat makes it worse.

Originally posted by genus49:
One thing I'll say is Kyle rarely misses on early round WRs unless it's because they don't have it mentally. If Stribling is a Gold Helmet guy I have to imagine he has that.

My biggest issue with the pick was simply I felt he was a reach. I haven't heard anything to make me think otherwise. Obviously end of the day if he turns into a great player for us it will lessen the sting but what some people are missing is that people are upset because there is a real chance the 49ers could've had Stribling AND another player to help the team.

It's great that they have conviction within the building but they have to project what others teams are doing and risk it sometimes that your guy falls. If memory serves me correctly they had Kittle graded as a 3rd round pick but thought maybe they could get him later...and did.

That should be a lesson to them but I do understand if you think you have another Kittle in WR form...maybe it's not worth the risk. I still disagree but I do get it...

Ok, my patience over with this reaching bs lol.

Contrary to Xavier Worthy who was a huge reach, Stribling checks all the boxes we ask for. He is a deep threat, is able to run block and apparently he got a golden helmet during the process.
According to some boards he would be gone in round 2.you just need another team who coincidentally valued almost as high as us and he is gone. Will the consensus board guru committee pay me the loss? I don't think so!