49ers rookie says he looked up to one of their stars growing up

The San Francisco 49ers added eight players in the 2026 NFL draft, and the first of those was wide receiver De'Zhaun Stribling, whom the team took with the first pick in the second round.

Stribling joins a 49ers wide receiver room that boasts some strong talent in front of him on the depth chart, including Mike Evans and Christian Kirk, who both joined the team as free-agent signings earlier this offseason.

San Francisco's rookies were back at the team's facility this weekend for the team's 2026 rookie minicamp, and while Stribling was speaking to the media, he revealed that he looked up to one of his new teammates when he was growing up.

"To have Mike Evans reach out, it was nice," Stribling said. "I looked up to him a lot growing up, so it's kind of nice that I'm sharing a room with him. The opportunity to learn from him will be very special."

Evans has won a Super Bowl and made six Pro Bowls and two All-Pro teams in his career while catching 866 passes for 13,052 yards and 108 touchdowns with the Buccaneers.

Now, Stribling sees some parts of his game in his own, and he's looking forward to picking Evans' brain throughout the offseason.

"Yeah, just being that bigger body receiver, can contest the catches on releases off the line," Stribling said. "So just very excited to be able to learn from him in this process."

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This article originally appeared on Niners Wire: 49ers rookie says he looked up to one of their stars growing up