Criticizing the San Francisco 49ers for their various reaches throughout the 2026 NFL Draft has turned into old news now. The picks are made, rookies have their numbers and the inevitable "time will tell" cliche will ultimately determine whether or not the Niners will be vindicated for their decisions.
San Francisco's top pick, Ole Miss wide receiver De'Zhaun Stribling, isn't immune to the criticism. Widely seen as a late Round 2 pick at the earliest, grabbing him one pick after the conclusion of the first round definitely incurred "reach" reactions from pundits and analysts.
So, unless Stribling somehow shocks and awes his rookie year, the criticism likely continues well beyond 2026.
For most, that means checking box scores. How many catches, yards and touchdowns will the first-year pass catcher have? It's safe to say judgment will be based on those easy-to-observe numbers.
But there's an importance to Stribling's game that won't easily show up on the box score, and it might not change the narrative even if he finds success in other means.
How about this? Blocking matters. And with the 49ers losing their best blocking wide receiver, Jauan Jennings, to the Minnesota Vikings via free agency, landing Stribling ultimately makes sense even if it was a reach of some kind.
De'Zhaun Stribling's blocking might be how rookie impacts 49ers most in 2026
With a 4.36 40-yard time at the NFL Combine, there's no doubting the 6-foot-2 Stribling is a burner and can stretch the field. And that'll certainly be useful when trying to create more opportunities for more senior targets like Mike Evans, Christian Kirk, George Kittle and Ricky Pearsall.
The problem, though, is it won't necessarily lead to a lot of stats for Stribling.
Yet another element is the rookie's blocking game, which caught the attention of USA Today's For the Win's Christian D'Andrea:
[Kyle Shanahan] wasn't happy with his downfield blocking last season, as The Athletic's Matt Barrows pointed out this week. That was Jennings' forte. It's also Stribling's, who at 6-foot-2 and 200-plus pounds can drive defensive backs away from the ball. Thus, even if the rookie has something like 30 catches in 2026, his debut could be a success.
Indeed, immediately after the draft, Shanahan pointed out how excited he was to get one of college football's best blocking wideouts, helping justify the Stribling pick to a certain extent.
The problem, though, is blocking efforts won't show up on a box score. That'll leave the critics criticizing.
Of course, Stribling's blocking efforts could show up in other ways. There are Pro Football Focus metrics, overall run-game totals, yards after the catch and so on. But the average fan and casual analyst won't necessarily draw the line between those figures and Stribling's impact there.
The point of all this? Unless Stribling somehow pops out 600-plus yards in year one, he'll likely receive plenty of complaints a year from now even if he immediately serves as a ruthless blocker who puts together some serious tape that no one can deny.
And that might be an awfully difficult thing to do out of the gate.
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