Why the De'Zhaun Stribling hype is 'real'
Yahoo Sports NFL analyst Nate Tice and Yahoo Sports fantasy analyst Matt Harmon discuss how the 49ers rookie wide receiver impressed in his preseason debut and could be an impactful addition in San Francisco this season. Check out the full conversation on "Football 301" - and subscribe on Apple Podcasts , Spotify , YouTube or wherever you listen.
Video Transcript
I wanna talk about De'Zhan Stribling.
I mean, I think the Stribling- hype or experience, whatever you wanna call it, is absolutely real.
Look, I, I'm not saying that he's gonna become the next superstar receiver in the NFL, but a lot of what we saw from Stribling in this game, I think it was 14 snaps, out wide, eight in the slot, or maybe, m- maybe the other way around, I can't really exactly remember.
But point of that is, like we got snaps of him mostly as like an off-ball Z receiver when he was outside and then kicking into the slot.
Like that was a lot of what I expected him to be used as an NFL player.
And again, to just refresh people who may or may not have been listening to us during the draft process, especially very late, 'cause I know you and I, I think you and I both like had Stribling as one of our last guys that we watched.
Yep.
He was one of the last full profiles I did for Reception Perception, and he was someone that I thought was a day two talent.
Like I thought he was a guy that was- Same clearly a coach's favorite, could do a lot of different things.
Was, you know, maybe an aggressive pick at the 33rd overall selection, totally willing to admit that.
But I still thought he would be a guy that could go in the 50s, in the 40s- Mm-hmm 'cause he was a day two receiver to me, and a part of the appeal of him was that I did think he had inside-outside versatility.
I thought he played with a b- like a bully ball mentality with the ball in his hands.
And he was a clean, consistent catcher of the football and would attack passes with his hands off frame.
And Nate, I feel like, again, I'm not gonna get caught up in the stats or the results or anything, but I feel like we saw all of what I just laid out there on the preseason tape for De'Zhan Stribling.
So I expect him to be a pretty important player for the San Francisco 49ers offense this year, you know, most of all because they need him, dude.
Like they need somebody- Yeah that can play inside out.
They need somebody who can, block in the run game.
They need somebody who can offer explosive play ability and, you know, that's certainly what Stribling can do.
I, I, it wasn't a mistake they gave him number 15 to be kind of like at the very least the Jauan Jennings replacement.
But he kind of, obviously like you just pointed, pointed out, the role might have to be more just because of what the situation is with everybody else.
But no, he's a guy who like I, I love the-- God, there's just always just seems to be a receiver like this.
It's one of my last watches.
Puka Nacua was like this as well.
Mm-hmm.
The year before we talked with Pat Bryant, Isaac Tesla, those were two guys that were some of my last watches.
Stribling was the other guy.
Either my last receiver or second to last receiver I scouted, and I loved him.
He was the last guy I added to my bag, big board, my top 75, top 100 actually.
I put him at 52, which is always the range.
Again, this is a little hint at me.
Guys between 45 and like 55 are guys I like
