Why Stribling will be crucial to 49ers offense
Chris Simms and Connor Rogers break down De'Zhaun Stribling's role in the 49ers' offense and identify an area of concern in San Francisco's attack.
Video Transcript
The thing we have to start with- Yeah and this comment from, Ken the Kid kind of brings it up right away.
Ken the Kid.
"Can we please talk about how impressive Stribling is- Yeah and will be?"
Yes.
Yeah, I, so Stribling, of course, is- This is the story right now he's the number o- he's the number one guy.
And to, to the way things look, right, Stribling is extremely mature as a receiver.
That's what pops to me more than anything.
He's an incredible route runner, he's got very good size.
You can see he's got strong hands, can play through contact.
I know he dropped the ball, that probably would've been a touchdown.
Either way, it was a great route.
I really think there's a chance they end up building the offense around him in the pass game.
And again, I have no inside info.
Kyle has not told me that.
This is just me watching football.
And I can see already, the first third down, they made the play for Stribling.
They went, "Put him in the slot, let him run an option route.
He'll run the out, we'll hit him."
So yeah, I wouldn't be shocked if he's kind of the go-to guy in the passing game.
He might be the guy that's the most versatile to kind of do everything, inside, outside.
Which you know Kyle loves that- Right in his receivers, yeah And if you can just show that you'll do the right thing and make the right decisions in reading coverage and catch the ball, Kyle doesn't give a shit if you're a rookie.
He'll throw you the ball 90 times.
He doesn't care.
And so that's what, that's what you like about Stribling.
Now, what I'll say on the negative part of it is that, yeah, it's really good, it's smooth, everything.
I like all of that.
But at the same time, I'm not, like, wowed by his physical explosion, explosiveness and his speed yet.
At least yet.
And again, I'm, I'm gonna wait because I know it's training camp and guys are worn out.
But, you know, as you know, that's, that's what I look at.
Yeah.
And I know he's a second-round pick, I got that.
But yeah, yeah, I mean, hey, Deebo Samuel, when he came out as a second-round pick, I was like, the first time he caught the ball, I was like, "Holy shit."
Yeah.
He's got rockets in his ass.
He looked like a running back.
Right.
Like an explosive running back.
He's like whoosh.
Yeah.
Right?
And so th- you know, that's the one thing I go, ugh, you know, Stribling's really good, and Shanahan's gonna be able to formulate a lot of offense around him.
I'm just excited or wanna know, is he gonna be explosive enough to make some plays on his own, right?
Break a tackle and turn up the sidelines for 60 yards and do that.
That to me is the only question I got so far about Stribling, but all, everything else has been phenomenal.
Yeah, I think the early returns are promising.
It's, everybody's got their eyes on just how featured he's been- Yes throughout this preseason right now.
Yes.
And you know, a little sidebar of this 49ers offense, George Kittle is ahead of schedule in his return from the Achilles injury.
He does have a legitimate chance to play week one.
It feels like they need him.
They need him.
I think they know, and I think everybody to your, what you just said, like people are like, "Wow, they're really, you know, forcing the ball to Stribling."
'Cause I, I think they know they're a little bit r- of an issue at wide receiver, and he's the guy that, like I just said, I think that can do a little bit of everything, and you can formulate a lot of plays and offense around.
I, I wouldn't be shocked if he's really the number one receiver when we get to, like, week three or four of the season, you know.
Because Evans isn't gonna be able to do some of that.
You're not gonna see Evans on third and five run the option route out route.
Right.
That's, there's no way.
That's not what he does.
He's not very good at that stuff.
So you know, that's where I think there's just a, he'll have a big chunk of the playbook.
I w- Kittle's health is important.
What I worry about with the 49ers, where four and five years ago they were so fast on offense.
They would play 21 personnel.
We had conversations like this 'cause they were like, "Yeah, play us in base," 'cause our 21, I mean, then we put Juszczyk and McCaffrey here and- Right Brock Purdy here.
I mean, you know, Samuel here and Aiyuk here, and it's like we got the fastest 21 personnel you'll ever see.
Right.
You know?
They could, they could, like, really put you in some binds there.
I, I do worry about them being a slow football team on the offense.
I, I do.
I mean, Evans we know has lost a step.
Is he gonna stay healthy?
You know, A- So has McCaffrey.
McCaffrey has lost a step.
Kittle, o' course, is not gonna be as fast.
Stribling, really good, but not wowing fast either, and that's one thing I worry about with their offense attack.
Do they have a guy that's gonna be able to back people off a little bit?
You know, stretch the field, back the safeties off a little bit, or are they gonna be a team that's, yeah, a little slower, and everybody's just gonna be like, "Hey, it's gonna be over the middle, it's gonna be in front of us, and let's do it that way."
That's one thing I do worry about with the 49ers.
Everything you just said reminds me of how we talked about the Broncos before they got Jaylen Waddle.
Yeah, yeah.
Yeah.
Where it's like we like the way they can play.
Yes.
We know they can run the ball.
The quarterback's really smart.
We like the receivers, but who is the guy that is the most dangerous threat on the field at all times?
And the Broncos were like, "We gotta go get one."
You got- And so it feels like the Niners are in that mold where they have a lot of nice pieces- Exactly but they might have to go make that move at some point of a kinda game-changing presence.
I, I, exactly.
I just, that, that's what I worry about.
W- we've talked about, Deebo is a guy that we know is not gonna beat people deep.
Christian Kirk maybe, but again, the health and all that, that's a little bit of an issue.
Do they have that guy?
And that, that's the only thing I question.
I know Shanahan is gonna be able to manipulate a few plays every game to get people deep, just like we saw with Stribling and the double move.
But it can't just always be that, right?
You know, good teams and the best offenses usually have a guy that can scare you and make coverage and the defense back up a little bit to where those underneath plays have less pressure on him that way.
All right, we're gonna take our first break.
Wait, hold on, hold on.
You know- I got more.
I'm, I'm getting told that- Shut up, Gary.
Kalon Black looked awesome just before we say that.
I think he looked phenomenal.
I mean, run hard.
He's a Shanahan running back, so that was awesome.
The other guy that pops to me is Romel- Rom- Romello Height.
Okay.
Romello Height, the Texas Tech defensive end.
He was in there with the starters.
They played some of their starters on the D-line.
Man, I mean, he's explosive.
He's got a knack for the ball.
He's got that, you know, that, that bendability that really- Definitely is special that way.
Twitchy.
Those are two other guys I thought with the 49ers that really stood out to me.
This was the, there's a couple, but this was the main place that always made sense for Romello Height.
Yeah.
It's like, I remember his spring weight going into his last college year, he was like 228.
And it's like well, he can get after the quarterback.
He checks all the boxes when you But it's just like, and then he, he gained weight for the combine.
Yeah.
But there's just a lot of fronts that won't play a guy like that.
No, right.
You're exactly right.
It feels like San Francisco- This is the spot is the place.
