Former Ole Miss WR De’Zhaun Stribling receives injury update after exiting season opener
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San Francisco 49ers wide receiver De’Zhaun Stribling garnered a lot of hype in his first NFL training camp. The No. 33 overall pick of the 2026 NFL Draft thrust himself onto the fantasy radar despite sharing a position room with Mike Evans and Deebo Samuel. He hoped to make an immediate impact, but suffered an injury early in San Francisco’s season opener.
According to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, Stribling will be out “at least a month” with a deltoid sprain in his ankle. Per Rapoport, the 49ers and Stribling are not planning for surgery on the ankle, but it’s a possibility.
Initial concerns from fans were that Stribling, whose injury was non-contact, would be out for the entirety of his rookie year. For the moment, that appears not to be the case.
However, there’s a chance that Stribling does end up missing additional time. Fantasy Points injury analyst Jeff Mueller broke down the rookie wideout’s ailment and potential timeline after Rapoport’s report.
“Sounds like close to a Grade 3 deltoid ligament sprain. Recovery from surgery could be 5-6 months so at this stage it makes sense to rehab first to see if it improves,” Mueller tweeted. “Plenty of time to get surgery later & be ready by May/June 2027 worst case scenario. He’ll likely be put on IR and timetable is “a month”, but this could easily extend to ~2 months out.”
San Francisco returns from Australia to face the Miami Dolphins on Sunday, Sept. 19 in Week 2 (4:25 p.m. E.T.)
