C+
San Francisco 49ers
The 49ers won the night they stopped Stribling from sliding. Grade: C+.
by Iowradar ·
2026 NFL Draft
· 9 picks
· 1 steals
· 6 reaches
The board owed the 49ers one, and it paid up: De'Zhaun Stribling, the No. 97 name on the board, sitting there at pick No. 127 like a gift left on the doorstep.
The cost of the Stephens reach is exactly the players who went right after him. If this class has a fault line, it runs straight through running back. They were the ones paying the moving tax this weekend.
It grades out a shrug today, with plenty of room to move either way.
Pick-by-Pick
In the 27th pick they get an enforcer at safety at fair value.
Malachi Lawrence in pick 43 is early enough to raise a brow, if not a full objection. It fills a real need, too.
They robbed the room for De'Zhaun Stribling here, a fall nobody at the table saw coming. That was the need underlined and circled, and now it is checked off.
A straight-up fair deal on Kaleb Proctor at the Round 4 slot, value and slot in agreement. A must-fix position, and they treated it like one.
Beau Stephens in pick No. 138 is a reach so steep the board needed a second look to believe it. It answers the question that was keeping the coaches up at night.
A reach for Bryce Boettcher in slot 165; a little patience would have been rewarded. A real hole, addressed with a reasonable pick.
Matt Gulbin at the 168th overall pick is a steep price for a hunch, hard to square with any board. This was priority one on the needs board, and now it is handled.
They jumped the gun on Ephesians Prysock, taking him earlier than his grade liked. It thickens a room that could stand to be thicker.
Value said wait; Riley Nowakowski in pick No. 206 says they were not listening. Another box on the needs board, quietly ticked.