The San Francisco 49ers surprised everyone in the football-loving world by drafting Ole Miss wide receiver De’Zhaun Stribling with the opening pick of the 2nd round (No. 33 overall).
After a full offseason of moves, the Stribling pick is still what’s befuddling NFL experts, including ESPN’s Seth Walder, who singled out drafting Sibling as the move he disliked the most for the 49ers in handing out his annual offseason grades.
“Jauan Jennings left in free agency (for cheap) for the Vikings, but the 49ers also added Christian Kirk and used its first draft selection on Stribling at pick No. 33,” Walder wrote on June 30. “The Stribling selection was a bit of a head-scratcher. He’d been a late riser, but this was a reach — and reaching in the draft is bad process.”
It’s also probably a bad process to draft a position where, on paper at least, your team seemed to have plenty of depth, and there were other, more pressing positions of need on both sides of the ball.
Stribling won’t exactly be cheap, either. As the 1st pick of the 2nd round, he’s getting relatively big money compared to years past — a 4-year, $13.3 million contract.
NFL Draft Expert Tabbed Stribling for 2nd Round
Stribling was projected as a 2nd-round pick by NFL draft analyst Lance Zierlein in his pre-draft evaluation — just not the very 1st pick of the 2nd round.
Part of the hesitancy to draft Stribling so high was that he never had a true breakout season in 3 college stops at Washington State, Oklahoma State, and Ole Miss. After he checked in at 6-foot-2 and 207 pounds at the NFL Scouting Combine, then ran a 4.36-second 40-yard dash … a lot of those previous concerns went out the window.
It’s Stribling’s speed that probably made him so attractive to the 49ers.
“The Niners didn’t just need a receiver, they needed to add some juice to that room after finishing last season without a single offensive player breaking the 20 mph mark with the ball in his hands, according to NFL Next Gen Stats,” ESPN’s Nick Wagoner wrote on April 25. “Stribling should help in that regard after running a 4.36-second 40-yard dash at the combine. That speed should help him get on the field right away even if he’s not a day one starter.”
For all of Stribling’s speed, it still seems like a reach to have taken him where they did — Zierlein also predicted he’d most likely be a WR4 to begin with. That seems like a player the 49ers could have gotten in the 3rd or 4th round — like where the Baltimore Ravens used consecutive picks on USC wide receiver Ja’Kobi Lane and Indiana wide receiver Elijah Sarratt.
Flip Side: 49ers Praised for Signing WR Mike Evans
While Walder called the 49ers out for drafting Stribling, he gave them just as much praise for signing veteran wide receiver Mike Evans to a below-market free-agent contract — a 2-year, $42.4 million deal because the former NFL All-Pro wanted to play for a contender.
“San Francisco scored an early victory in free agency, landing Evans on a three-year deal that pays him just over $14 million per year and is fully guaranteed for only the $14.3 million he’ll earn in 2026,” Walder wrote. “It was clearly a below-market deal, and it’s a testament to Kyle Shanahan and the 49ers that Evans wanted to take it to play for San Francisco. And it meant the team could upgrade at wide receiver without sacrificing its future financial situation.”
Like HEAVY’s content? Be sure to follow us.
This article was originally published on HEAVY
The post 49ers Warned ‘Head-Scratcher’ Draft Pick Could Backfire appeared first on HEAVY.