Christian Kirk

49ers rookie wide receiver De’Zhaun Stribling is making a positive early impression on a very important teammate.

“Dude is a baller, and I mean that,” Purdy said on KNBR, via 49ersWebzone.com. “It’s hard to say that for a rookie, right off the jump, but just seeing him run routes, going up against defenders in OTAs and then in camp yesterday. He’s a great route runner. He’s smart. He’s learned the playbook really quick, which is awesome. And then, on top of that, you can see his strength, too. When he’s going up against guys and creating separation, I’m like, ‘Alright, this guy’s a strong receiver.’ And so, I’m excited to see what he does, but all of us, all the quarterbacks in the room, were like, ‘Alright, this guy’s going to be a guy that’s going to come in and play.’”

Related players: Mike Evans, Ricky Pearsall, Christian Kirk, Demarcus Robinson

As the story points out, Stribling joined the 49ers with the top pick of the second round and the selection drew some negative reviews because of who else was available at that point in the draft. Purdy seems impressed with the rookie but Stribling will have some spots to climb on the depth chart. However, Evans is coming off a year where he had hamstring issues and Kirk is already dealing with a calf sprain. So there certainly seems to be a path toward playing time for Stribling.