SANTA CLARA, Calif. — The San Francisco 49ers wide receiver room might as well be the infirmary. With Mike Evans, Christian Kirk and Jacob Cowing nursing ailments on the sideline, and with Ricky Pearsall already out for the season, what might have been the deepest position on the team coming into training camp is suddenly feeling more than a bit precarious. And it begs the question: With a ...

San Francisco 49 ers wide receiver De'Zhaun Stribling participates in the team’ s rookie minicamp Friday, May 8, 2026, at the 49 ers’ practice facility in Santa Clara, Calif..

Dai Sugano/Bay Area News Group/TNS

SANTA CLARA, Calif. — The San Francisco 49ers wide receiver room might as well be the infirmary.

With Mike Evans, Christian Kirk and Jacob Cowing nursing ailments on the sideline, and with Ricky Pearsall already out for the season, what might have been the deepest position on the team coming into training camp is suddenly feeling more than a bit precarious.

And it begs the question: With a month to go until the 49ers’ season opener in Australia against the Rams, how can the Niners not play De’Zhaun Stribling early and often?

For years, Shanahan’s offense has treated rookie wideouts with the warmth of a late-night telemarketer call.

Indeed, Shanahan’s doghouse for young players at the position has featured some impressive guests.

Brandon Aiyuk famously spent his first two years in it.

Deebo Samuel was in it until the Niners made a trade for veteran Emmanuel Sanders just so someone could teach him how to do things Kyle’s way.

Even Pearsall had a hard time breaking through and landing regular playing time in his rookie campaign, even after he healed from his gunshot injury.

Yet here is Stribling, who appears to have every opportunity to defy the traditional Shanahan initiation ritual by making play after play so far this summer.

Sure, training camp always inflates the reputations of a receiver who can win a 50-50 ball against second-string cornerbacks. My preschool-aged daughter could watch Stribling snatch passes and correctly conclude, “Hey, that guy’s pretty good.”

But Shanahan’s playbook demands far more than just jumping high and catching a football.

It specifically demands violence in the run game, which is usually where young wideouts trip up.

But tenacity is precisely why the Niners grabbed Stribling with the 33rd overall pick — defying the “consensus” boards in the process.

On Sunday, wide receivers coach Leonard Hankerson recalled watching Stribling at Mississippi taking on the baddest man in college football last season, Miami defensive end Reuben Bain, in the Fiesta Bowl.

“They were asking him to cross-sift — lining up on one side of the ball, going across, and [blocking] the defensive end. I’m not saying it always worked in his favor, but he did not turn it down,” Hankerson said. “When you see guys on tape who had 800 or 900 yards as a receiver stick their face in against top-five, first-round defensive ends, it speaks a lot about them.”

Perhaps that they have a death wish.

But again, that’s the baseline mentality to be a Shanahan wideout.

And in camp — to whatever degree you can judge these things — he’s shown that same relentless edge, pairing an NFL-ready frame with a nose for contact and hands the size of trash-can lids.

Wearing No. 15, he looks every bit like the spiritual successor to Jauan Jennings, the ultimate dirty-work wideout, albeit with far more physical gifts.

“I call him ‘The Flying Hawaiian’ because he’s so fast,” quarterback Mac Jones said earlier this week. “Some guys, they can be really quick, but they’re not as strong — he has both.”

And it shows up rep after rep, at least from the media’s vantage point.

There’s a reason the Niners quarterbacks keep throwing him the ball, and why when he’s not in, the offense seems to sputter a bit.

So, again, I ask: If Stribling is blocking like a tight end and snagging contested throws like a ten-year veteran, what exactly would keep him off the field as a rookie?

Hankerson, when asked, couldn’t offer a single valid reason.

He just smiled, and spoke in platitudes about the process — getting better every day, that sort of thing — and moved on.

The lack of an answer spoke volumes.

And Stribling doesn’t merely look like a bit player — the 49ers initially planned for him to play the flanker (slot) spot in three-receiver sets — but perhaps a steady option. The team’s depleted depth chart is demanding an expanded menu.

Sure, Evans — the team’s undisputed No. 1 — will return to the mix. He’s also battled a hamstring injury (he’s currently battling a quad injury, so …) in each of the last five seasons. Stribling is seeing plenty of work at “X.”

And yes, the Niners brought in Deebo Samuel to play the Z, but while he’s looking good in camp, he might be better used as a running back this season — those screen passes and quick slants are hitting like it’s 2024 all over again, which is to say, they’re not hitting. It’s not a difficult transition to go from flanker to Z — both are off-ball.

As for the competition: Kirk? Who knows what he is in this offense — we haven’t seen it yet.

Jordan Watkins, a second-year wideout, gets open plenty, but has multiple drops a practice.

DeMarcus Robinson oscillates by the day from looking like a go-to veteran option to a guy on the cut line.

And Cowing wasn’t doing enough to solidify a roster spot before he picked up his injury.

Of the available options today, Stribling has been the most consistently impressive. (Though, to be fair, there aren’t many available options.)

And, of course, there’s still a full month of preseason remaining before the real show starts down under.

Given this franchise’s star-crossed injury luck, Stribling’s once-injured hamstring could flare up tomorrow just from breathing the Santa Clara air.

But when John Lynch and the Niners selected Stribling, it was panned by many as a “reach.”

Four months later, that reach is starting to look like a necessary stroke of brilliance.

Because while the Niners drafted Stribling for his long-term potential, he could well be needed early and often in the short-term. Patience is not a position the Niners can afford right now.

But patience doesn’t appear to be something that Stribling needs.

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