De'Zhaun Stribling Camp Update — August 31: On the 53 Without Another Snap
2026 NFL Season · Monday, Aug 31
The rookie made the initial fifty-three-man roster while sitting out the finale as a shoulder precaution, and the receiver room sorted itself in his favor without him playing another snap. Five receivers were cut beneath him and Christian Kirk went to injured reserve with a designation to return.
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De'Zhaun Stribling made the 53-man roster without playing another down. The club's roster breakdown names the rookie in a six-man receiver room with Mike Evans, Deebo Samuel Sr., Demarcus Robinson, Jacob Cowing, and Jordan Watkins, per Briana Jeannel at 49ers.com — and he got there from the sideline, held out of Thursday's preseason finale against the Raiders as a precaution with the shoulder, per CBS Sports. That hold-out was his, individually and by name — for the shoulder specifically, a separate matter from the room-level rest the veteran starters got.
What he'd already shown: 11 catches on 13 targets for a hundred nine yards across the first two preseason games, per CBS Sports, which also had him back at practice August 20-third in a non-contact jersey with the shoulder listed day-to-day. Then the room cleared around him. Christian Kirk — the veteran receiver whose role Stribling has spent August auditioning for — went to injured reserve with a return designation, per Matt Maiocco via 49ers Webzone, and five receivers were cut beneath him: Hodge, Pauling, Irwin, Turner, and Grimes, per David Bonilla's tracker at 49ers Webzone.
Last week's watch line was the shoulder first, then the target tree after cutdown. Both answered: the shoulder cost him the finale and nothing else — "day-to-day is probably nothing" survived, at the price of that one game — and the tree sorted almost entirely in his favor. Back in June the preview preached patience with a day-two receiver in Kyle Shanahan's building; by August 20-third he'd been the most productive receiver on the field in every setting the month offered, and the honest note this week is that August ended without him adding to that file. The next entries come against real defenses. We'll check back once game weeks begin.
_Data via nflverse._
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