A week removed from the kickstart of the San Francisco 49ers' 2026 NFL Draft class, it's not hard to see just how much criticism general manager John Lynch and head coach Kyle Shanahan have received.
Reaching was certainly the primary theme, and two of the Niners' top picks easily fell into this category: a third-round grab of Indiana running back Kaelon Black and San Francisco's top pick, Ole Miss wide receiver De'Zhaun Stribling, at No. 33 overall to kick off Round 2.
Stribling, of course, might end up being an excellent player. His speed and blocking prowess surely fit into Shanahan's offensive plans.
But the Ole Miss standout likely would have been available toward the very end of Round 2, perhaps even into the third round, making the 49ers' selection of him atop of day two a major talking point, and not one for all the right reasons.
As for the critics? Well, those who thought Stribling was a reach won't quiet their arguments after hearing what Shanahan recently told Rich Eisen.
Kyle Shanahan made 49ers' reach on De'Zhaun Stribling that much worse
Speaking on The Rich Eisen Show, Shanahan made it pretty clear Stribling was awfully high on the Niners' list of draft targets. And while there's a pretty good indication the receiver wasn't the No. 1 target, the head coach's admission says an awful lot about how the Niners viewed Stribling.
"Our first goal was that the guy we wanted would fall to 27," Shanahan told Eisen. "But we got our second goal, and that was to trade back twice, accumulate some more picks, and still get the guy.
Perhaps "the guy" San Francisco originally wanted was now-Cleveland Browns wide receiver KC Concepcion, a prospect widely mocked to the 49ers leading up to the draft.
It sounds, though, as if Stribling was way higher on the priority list than originally thought.
And Shanahan just admitted it.
"We would have taken Stribling at 30, if we had to pick," Shanahan admitted. "But to get to 33 and still get the guy we wanted [was ideal] ... I think we added eight players who all have a very good chance of making our team, and on top of that, we added a sixth-round pick for next year, which I think's huge because we didn't have one."
So, the Niners were prepared to use a first-round pick on Stribling if they were unable to trade down for a second time in Round 1. If anything, the only thing partially salvaging San Francisco's pick to kick off Round 2 was the fact it traded down twice to get there.
According to Shanahan, that wasn't a prerequisite, and it doesn't exactly paint the 49ers' draft approach in a much better picture.
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