SANTA CLARA, Calif. — The decision by the San Francisco 49ers to draft De’Zhaun Stribling with the first pick of the second round in April raised some eyebrows with more accomplished college receivers still on the board.
“My journey is my journey. So I’m just making the most out of my opportunities and what’s given to me. Stribling caught a pass on his first snap in an exhibition game with a 6-yarder from Kurtis Rourke. He couldn’t catch a slightly off-target throw on third down later in that drive and also lost 5 yards on a pop pass.
Because once I do that, I’m not going to be grateful or happy of where I’m at, i’m not going to look at someone else’s journey,.
“I know who was taken ahead of me, but I just see it as this is my journey,” Stribling said after the game.
But he took over the game from there, catching all five targets on his final two drives, including an impressive contested catch on a 32-yard deep pass down the sideline and an 11-yard catch-and-run on third-and-6 when he broke a tackle and managed to stay inbounds to help set up a touchdown.
“I was just a little excited, a little nervous,” Stribling said. “But kind of getting the first hit out the way, the first catch out the way, you start getting into a groove and everything starts rolling.”
Because he’s going about it the right way and as long as he gets those reps and continues to do what he’s been doing, he should be ready for the season, hopefully he can string together two more of these weeks,. “But he definitely is fast, but some guys, they can be really quick, but they’re not as strong, so he has both. I don’t have a comp for him yet, but I think he’ll be a really good player. … Just the way he got to the ball when it’s in the air was impressive. He has like a second gear when the ball’s in the air. Some guys are really fast, but when the ball goes up and your eyes go up, you slow down, but he doesn’t do that, so it’s pretty impressive. “It was tough when he got hurt. He missed that week. Now he’s been back for a week. See ’s full NFL coverage here
“I call him the ‘Flyin’ Hawaiian’ because he’s so fast,” backup quarterback Mac Jones said. “He’s handling it well,” coach Kyle Shanahan said after the game.
