{"id":712985,"date":"2026-06-19T05:42:13","date_gmt":"2026-06-19T05:42:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/712985\/"},"modified":"2026-06-19T05:42:13","modified_gmt":"2026-06-19T05:42:13","slug":"49ers-are-already-being-proven-right-about-a-highly-criticized-draft-pick","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/712985\/","title":{"rendered":"49ers are already being proven right about a highly-criticized draft pick"},"content":{"rendered":"<p id=\"inline-text-0\" class=\"mt-[18px] md:mt-0 mb-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5i\">The San Francisco 49ers didn\u2019t pick in the first round of the 2026 NFL Draft, but they did kick off the second round, selecting wide receiver De\u2019Zhaun Stribling with the 33rd overall pick. The selection was immediately criticized, with many people arguing that San Francisco made a massive reach.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-1\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5l\">The Niners never let the criticism get to them, <a href=\"https:\/\/ninernoise.com\/de-zhaun-stribling-49ers-look-smarter-anyone-expected\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">defending the selection of Stribling<\/a> the entire time, and expressing how excited they are to add him to the offense. While time will ultimately tell who was right on draft night, San Francisco has been happy with what it has already seen from the receiver.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-2\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5o\">Additionally, the 49ers have been getting validation for when they picked Stribling, showing they didn\u2019t reach at all. That was evident in a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/nfl\/story\/_\/id\/49071567\/2026-offseason-nfl-execs-favorite-trades-signings-draft-picks-moves-waddle-garrett\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">recent ESPN piece<\/a> by Jeremy Fowler, where the NFL insider asked league executives to highlight some of their favorite moves of the offseason. <\/p>\n<p>One of the praised moves was San Francisco\u2019s selection of Stribling.<\/p>\n<p>NFL executives are praising 49ers\u2019 selection of De\u2019Zhaun Stribling<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-4\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5u\">According to Fowler, many evaluators liked Stribling landing with San Francisco at pick No. 33. While people outside the NFL questioned when he was drafted, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcsportsbayarea.com\/nfl\/san-francisco-49ers\/dezhaun-stribling-2026-draft-coach-reach\/1934941\/?amp=1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">the evaluation within the league<\/a> was that Stribling was a late riser in the draft process, and ultimately went in the range where teams expected him to be selected.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-5\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5x\">That was evident in a quote from an NFC executive who said, \u201cHe was going within the first five to 10 picks in the second round. That was not a reach at all. He can really play.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>So clearly, the NFL had a different evaluation of Stribling than the draft community, and the 49ers did what they had to do to be the team who walked away with him.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-6\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"60\">That\u2019s exciting because Fowler also explained that Stribling is considered the ideal fit for what Kyle Shanahan and San Francisco wants to do, offensively. Considering how the Niners&#8217; <a href=\"https:\/\/ninernoise.com\/overlooked-49ers-veteran-threatens-de-zhaun-stribling-completely-obsolete\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">wide receiver room has been transformed<\/a>, the wideout has the chance to immediately contribute as a rookie.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-7\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"63\">After five seasons in college, attending three different schools, Stribling had his best two seasons in the last two years, catching over 50 passes for 800-plus yards and six touchdowns in each of the last two seasons. <\/p>\n<p>He will now try to carry that momentum over to the 49ers.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"22\" height=\"22\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/assets.minutemediacdn.com\/platform\/google_discover_icon.svg\" class=\"shrink-0\"\/>Add us as a preferred source on Google<a aria-label=\"Follow ninernoise.com on Google News\" href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/preferences\/source?q=ninernoise.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" class=\"flex h-[30px] w-[30px] shrink-0 items-center justify-center rounded-full bg-primary font-group-large text-sm font-medium text-white transition-colors hover:bg-secondary focus:bg-secondary md:w-auto md:gap-2.5 md:px-4 md:py-[5px]\">Follow<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The San Francisco 49ers didn\u2019t pick in the first round of the 2026 NFL Draft, but they did&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":712986,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[63],"tags":[349,99],"class_list":["post-712985","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nfl","tag-nfl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/712985","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=712985"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/712985\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/712986"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=712985"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=712985"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=712985"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}