Long-time NFL and draft evaluator Greg Cossell was a fan of the first pick the San Francisco 49ers made in the draft. Cossell’s bottom line for De’Zhaun Stribling was, “I loved his tape.”

More and more draft analysts acknowledge the 49ers reached for players earlier in this draft, but also admitted the team added good players, which is ultimately the goal.

Well, I watched his 2025 tape, and the first thing that stood out was that you’re dealing with a guy that has an outstanding size-speed profile. He has vertical explosiveness. He’s big. He’s 6’2 1/8″. He’s 207. And I loved what I saw in that regard.

But what I didn’t see in his 2025 tape was him working between the numbers much. So I said to myself, you know what, he transferred from Oklahoma State. So I said to myself, I’m going to go back and look at all of his pass targets from 2024, when he was at Oklahoma State. And you know what, he worked the middle of the field at Oklahoma State, really effectively.

So, when I was all done watching, probably, oh, I don’t know, 100, whatever the number of targets, maybe 200 plus, I came away really liking what I saw. I thought that he looked quick. He looked refined as a route runner. I think he can really develop into more than a vertical dimension. He’s absolutely a vertical dimension, because he can run by people. So I really, really like Stribling.

And just so you know, people listening, just so they know, I spoke to an offensive coach, who has been in this league for 35 years, who liked Stribling more than Makai Lemon. So all this consensus talk means absolutely nothing to anybody that has a brain.

Stribling only saw 17 targets over the intermediate portion of the field at Ole Miss. The year before at Oklahoma State, that number more than doubled to 38. Stribling also had four touchdowns compared to just one drop, while averaging a remarkable 23.3 yards per reception on those targets. That’s where the speed comes into play.

I, too, had Stribling over Lemon. These NFL bodies matter. The margin for error for a quarterback is far greater when targeting a player like Stribling than it is Lemon. Nothing about Lemon showed that he was a burner with breakaway speed. There are plenty of exposures in which Stribling is pulling away from someone.

Another part of the size is being able to use them in the formation as blockers. When you do that, as Lane Kiffin did at Ole Miss, you can sneak Stribling out of the other side of the formation and get him matched up against a linebacker. That turns into a foot race between the two to the first down marker.

Stribling raises the ceiling of the 49ers’ offense and not only provides a much-needed vertical threat, but a player you can run the entire route tree with, while using him all over the field, whether that’s outside of the numbers or stacked behind George Kittle. Plus, Stribling has proven he will get back up after taking a big hit over the middle. It’s not just athleticism; toughness also stood out.