For years, a major piece of San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan's offense was generating yards after the catch, and so many components of his system involved players who could rip off chunk yards with the ball in their hands.
Most of those players have gone now, or at least have moved beyond their prime, leaving Shanahan with relatively few options to effectively generate the effective YAC, as it's so called.
Indeed, the 2025 Niners reflected this with a middle-of-the-pack 1,806 YAC—a stark contrast from the 2,189 post-reception yards they had two seasons prior amid the Super Bowl run.
Shanahan is hoping one big addition changes all this: rookie wide receiver De'Zhaun Stribling.
Stribling, selected by San Francisco with the 33rd overall pick, is a burner. Adding the speed factor on offense makes sense, too, and it's fair to suggest that'll be the rookie's primary role aside from serving as a perimeter blocker.
But, is the expectation for Stribling too high right out of the gate?
Perhaps.
De'Zhaun Stribling is already facing immense pressure in Year 1
Complicating matters is the fact many within the draft community felt Stribling was a major reach to kick off Round 2. While that debate has largely subsided since late April, it doesn't change the fact Shanahan is notoriously tough on his receivers, demanding a lot and expecting even more.
It'd be one thing if the rookie is merely tasked with spreading the field as a decoy while also serving as a blocker, but it appears as if there's an expectation to help get Shanahan's offense back into a potent YAC category while hoping veteran receivers like Mike Evans, Christian Kirk and Ricky Pearsall can help improve the metric.
From ESPN's Aaron Schatz:
Kyle Shanahan offenses used to dominate the league in yards after the catch. But last season, Pearsall was last in the league in YAC vs. expectation, and new 49er Evans was next-to-last. So where are the 49ers going to get their big YAC plays? Perhaps they will come from this tall and fast second-round rookie out of Ole Miss, who will start out competing with Kirk for snaps out of the slot.
That might be a bit too much to ask out of Stribling as he begins to learn all the nuances of Shanahan's complex offense, although considering the 49ers' Super Bowl window is open now, there may not be a lot of room for patience.
And if Stribling doesn't deliver much in this category right out of the gate, it'll only serve to question the Niners' selection even more.
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