De’Zhaun Stribling has already been given a path to playing time, and in San Francisco that alone puts him in rare rookie territory.
That’s because rookie wideouts under Kyle Shanahan have usually had a hard time breaking through. The 49ers’ history is littered with receivers who needed time before earning trust, and the numbers back it up.
Brandon Aiyuk finished with 60 catches as a rookie, Deebo Samuel with 57, and those two were the only San Francisco rookies to clear 35 receptions. They were also the only rookie pair in franchise history to top 500 receiving yards.
There have been a few near misses, too. Ricky Pearsall’s rookie season came with a giant asterisk, but he still finished strong in the second half with 31 catches for 400 yards.
Dante Pettis once got close as well, posting 27 receptions for 467 yards. Jauan Jennings didn’t play in 2020, which made him technically a rookie in 2021, and he ended that season with 24 catches for 282 yards.
Jennings is tied for second in franchise history with five receiving touchdowns in a rookie campaign, matching Aiyuk.
Still, ESPN’s Dan Graziano singled out Stribling in his team-by-team “Don’t be surprised if” rundown, writing: “Don’t be surprised if ... De’Zhaun Stribling leads all rookie wide receivers in catches.”
Graziano noted that Mike Evans is likely to be the team’s top receiver, even though he’s already dealing with injuries in training camp. He also pointed to the experience Demarcus Robinson and Deebo Samuel Sr. have in this system, along with Shanahan’s well-known reluctance to lean too hard on rookies. But the bigger point was simple: the ball has to go somewhere, and Stribling has been making a lot of plays in camp and the preseason.
The first pick of the second round in this year’s draft, Stribling arrives with a real shot to matter immediately. Trent Williams told Graziano he expects big things from him right away, saying Stribling reminds him of Jauan Jennings because of the routes he can run, only with more speed. Brock Purdy could be looking his way early and often.
The 49ers didn’t bring Stribling in to sit and wait. He’s expected to play early and often, and he offers something different from Robinson and Deebo, who are described as role players at this stage of their careers. In the preseason, Stribling looked like a player on the rise.
That doesn’t mean he’s headed for the kind of rookie seasons Aiyuk and Deebo put together, especially with other options on the roster. But the floor is still intriguing.
Graziano pointed to rookie seasons from J.J. Stokes and Terrell Owens in the ’90s as a reasonable baseline, with both finishing a little above 500 yards and with 35 and 38 catches, respectively.
And if you’re looking for a modern comp, Graziano offered George Pickens’ 2022 season with the Steelers: 52 receptions, 801 yards and four touchdowns. For a 49ers rookie receiver, that would be a serious first-year haul.
In Other News...
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For now, the 49ers say the locker room and team activities have not been affected, which is the kind of answer clubs tend to give when they want the football to stay separate from everything else. Still, this is not just about the arrest itself. It is about how much of Yorks role can be carried out from a distance, how the league responds, and whether a franchise used to having its owner close at hand can keep functioning smoothly if that becomes the new normal. [Read more 🡒]
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The Rams intend to arrive the day before the game and leave immediately afterward, while the 49ers are planning to get there several days early to adjust to the time difference. That difference has prompted some outside debate about which approach is smarter for handling jetlag, with neurologist W. Christopher Winter suggesting the Rams shorter stay could actually be the better way to manage the trip. [Read more 🡒]