49ers' New WR Stribling Reportedly Hyped By NFL Coaches 'More Than the Public Knows' amid Backlash

Some fans and analysts believed the San Francisco 49ers reached on a number of their early draft picks this past weekend, namely using the No. 33 overall pick to select wideout De'Zhaun Stribling.

The B/R NFL Scouting Department had him ranked No. 68 on its final big board, for instance, and 15th among all receivers. But not everybody believes the Niners got poor value with that selection.

Albert Breer of SI.com reported Monday that "some really good offensive coaches really liked him, more than the public knows. We'll see how it plays out."

The Niners were certainly thrilled with the pick.

"I'm not certain if Ole Miss knew the quality and the caliber of person and player that they had early on," vice president of player personnel Tariq Ahmad told reporters. "Our scouts loved him right away. Our coaches loved him right away. Leadership, goal-oriented, the passion that the guy has, the work ethic, the toughness, the durability—he checks all those boxes at a really high level."

"The cool thing about Strib, too, is all the traits that we're talking about, they show up on tape," director of scouting and football operations Josh Williams added. "The way he blocks, the way he catches the ball, how unselfish of a teammate he is, it shows up on tape."

Time will tell. But the Niners had plenty of conviction when it came to that selection.