It's been difficult to find anyone who hasn't yet bought into the hype surrounding San Francisco 49ers rookie De'Zhaun Stribling. He took the growing buzz from the early days of training camp and amplified it in the first two preseason games, catching 11 passes for 109 yards.
While he's been the talk of the summer, one person remains unimpressed. Unfortunately for Stribling, that person is also in charge of his standing on the depth chart. Kyle Shanahan has not only been Stribling's harshest (and possibly only) critic, but he has gone out of his way to pour cold water on the rookie's breakout preseason.
When asked about whether it is encouraging to see De'Zhaun Stribling perform well in the preseason, Shanahan had the following to say:
No, I mean the preseason games don't mean that much to me. Coverages went that way, and he happened to get targeted, and he made those plays... We hoped to not have to use him quite as much early on with Ricky [Pearsall]... Losing Ricky, [we're] upset a little bit. You have to use [Stribling] a little sooner than you prepared.
Kyle Shanahan is reluctant to give the 49ers rookie his flowers
While he also threw in the fact that the organization believes in his talent, the response is still uninspiring, especially coming from Stribling's own head coach.
Not only was Shanahan not impressed by Stribling's pair of dominating performances, but he went out of his way to minimize them, attributing them to little more than chance. The reality is that the rookie has completely taken over games whenever he has been on the field, and he has played well with three different quarterbacks throwing him the ball.
Instead of acknowledging that fact, though, Shanahan opted to chalk his success up to arbitrary coverages. It's a bit of a slap in the face to a first-year player who is trying to get his feet wet in the league.
The De'Zhaun Stribling experiment clearly isn't going according to plan in Kyle Shanahan's eyes
Not only did he refuse to affirm his young wideout, but Shanahan inadvertently voiced frustrations regarding his standing in the depth chart. The offensive guru was candid about wanting Stribling to pay his dues rather than become an immediate X-factor. Such a comment is not surprising coming from a head coach who notoriously favors older, more experienced players.
It's clear Ricky Pearsall's season-ending surgery threw a wrench into Shanahan's plans this season, but he didn't have to voice his frustrations so loudly.
At the end of the day, the prompt was a softball question. All Shanahan had to do was praise his young pass catcher and give him a small confidence boost. Instead, he used the opportunity to downplay Stribling's early rise. The Ole Miss product has spent months turning skeptics into believers only to be deflated by the very person who drafted him. Fans can only hope De'Zhaun Stribling enjoys a breakout campaign in spite of his head coach's pessimism.
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