The Indianapolis Colts need a player to take the spot of Michael Pittman, and some hoped that might be Ole Miss wide receiver De'Zhaun Stribling. That can't happen now that the San Francisco 49ers took the wideout at the top of the second round of the 2026 NFL draft.
To be fair, Indy was likely hoping Stribling would fall, maybe into the third round. Many pundits had the receiver falling that far as he wasn't overly productive in college and didn't have a highly developed route tree despite his elite speed. He has been timed at 4.36 in the 40-yard dash.
He did have questions about him that need to be answered, and ones that likely made the 49ers' NFC West rivals laugh a bit when San Francisco took him so surprisingly high. Stribling isn't extremely strong, and he doesn't have the best catch rate on 50/50 balls.
49ers steal potential Indianapolis Colts pick De'Zhaun Stribling in the second round
This makes it seem as if the 49ers took him simply to be a deep threat in hopes that he can develop into a solid possession receiver. The risk was that San Francisco kept trading down, and eventually out, of the first round, and with their first choice, they took the wide receiver. That's weird.
Not that the Indianapolis Colts have to worry about that, and, in fact, maybe San Francisco's somewhat stunning move saves general manager Chris Ballard from making a mistake. No guarantee exists that Stribling will be a productive professional, and he might come nowhere near what Michael Pittman was able to do.
Pittman wasn't exceedingly explosive, and his yards per catch were trending more and more toward pedestrian, but he was a solid option on third down and was able to keep the chains moving.
At this point, De'Zhaun Stribling seems more like an Alec Pierce type, where he can beat defenses deep. Unlike Pierce, however, he hasn't been good at boxing out defensive backs deep down the field. He might never be able to do that. At least, the Colts are not going to be the team that finds out if he can or cannot do that three years down the road.
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