Other than Evans, the most impressive WR in camp, by far, has been Stribling, who has a huge opportunity with Pearsall out and Christian
Kirk nursing a sore calf. Stribling is big, accelerates out of cuts very smoothly, catches the ball cleanly, and seems to have quickly earned the trust of the quarterbacks. He’s been so good that Evans, a six-time Pro Bowler, all but shouted out his name on Friday when asked to name a standout young player. “Strib!” Evans said. “Strib’s standing out. He’s had a really good offseason and OTAs and he’s continued to do that in training camp.” I’m a zero-time Pro Bowler, but in my eyes, Stribling’s early-camp play has been more consequential than any 49ers highly drafted rookie receiver since Aiyuk in 2020 and Deebo in 2019 — and has already placed him above Pearsall, Dante Pettis, Danny Gray, and Jalen Hurd.
Grant Cohn·
Out for the season due to a PCL injury he suffered in Week 4 of last season. If Pearsall had surgery last year, he would be healthy by now. Instead, the team wanted him to try to rehab without a procedure, their plan failed, and now he has to get surgery and miss the entire 2026 season. What a blunder. Now we see why players such as George Kittle, Nick Bosa, Christian McCaffrey, Fred Warner, and Brandon Aiyuk chose to rehab away from the team. Too bad Pearsall didn't do the same thing. Unfortunately, he might have gotten in trouble with the team if he had followed his own rehab plan.
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