49ers draft check-in: 5 rookies standing out during training camp - The San Francisco Standard

SANTA CLARA — Before Monday’s practice, the 49ers cut veteran offensive lineman Nick Zakelj to make room for a new center, Doug Kramer Jr. With Zakelj gone, Brock Purdy is now the only remaining player from the 49ers’ 11-player 2022 draft class. It was a fruitless haul — until the 49ers sneaked in one of the greatest picks in NFL history. Purdy, the last player selected in that draft, should soon qualify as the league’s all-time leader in passer rating. On Monday, Purdy threw two more deep touchdowns to De’Zhaun Stribling and Demarcus Robinson. The quarterback’s excellent training camp has served as another reminder of the dire straits the 49ers might be in without him — especially because the team’s 2023 draft class fared only marginally better than the 2022 crop. Ji’Ayir Brown, Darrell Luter Jr., Brayden Willis, and Jalen Graham remain with the team from that haul — but only Brown projects as a starter. While the 49ers have enjoyed more production and promise from their 2024 and 2025 classes, the jury is still out on all those players, and the 2026 rookies will be a hinge point for the team’s longer-term prospects. Here are four draftees, plus one undrafted free agent, who look capable of contributing early on this season. Stribling’s ascent Stribling, the 49ers’ top pick this year at No. 33 overall, is surging. He’s been so smooth and productive that the 49ers actually believe he might be able to pick up some of injured Ricky Pearsall’s slack at the “Z” receiver position. “We’re moving around,” offensive coordinator Klay Kubiak said Monday. “We’re putting him outside, putting him inside, doing different things with him, giving him touches in different ways. There’s a lot of evaluation still to go. The preseason is going to tell us a lot, too, about where he’s at.” The 49ers’ initial plan called for Stribling at the “big slot” position, an inside role formerly held by Jauan Jennings. But Pearsall’s absence leaves an opening at flanker, the Z, which Stribling might be capable of filling on at least a part-time basis. Stribling dropped only one pass last season at Ole Miss, and his dependable hands have been on display this camp — he’s caught every ball thrown his way. On Sunday, wide receivers coach Leonard Hankerson revealed a fascinating nugget. He said the 49ers were sold on Stribling when they saw him try to block 263-pound Miami defensive end Ruben Bain Jr. — the No. 15 overall pick of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers — on cross-sift action. “I’m not saying it worked in his favor, but he would not turn it down,” Hankerson said. “Pick No. 33 and you’re going in there and sticking your face on first-round D-ends, it speaks a lot about you.” The 49ers are looking to swiftly fix their dearth of explosive runs, a huge 2025 issue (they ranked No. 31 of 32 teams) that they primarily blame on poor perimeter blocking. Stribling’s toughness is one potential antidote. So is the feisty strength of undrafted rookie wideout Will Pauling, who packs a strong punch from his 5-foot-9 frame. “He’s the hammer in the running game,” Hankerson said. “Right now, he’s been the most physical receiver in the running game. He’s been sustaining blocks.” How Height, Halton, and Dugger fit a new scheme On defense, linemen Romello Height and Gracen Halton have been the 49ers’ early rookie standouts. There was an initial fear that the 239-pound Height, an end, and the 293-pound Halton, a tackle, might lack the necessary size to play extensively at their respective positions. But the 49ers have actually found that Halton plays larger than they expected, which can theoretically make him a factor on run defense. Halton’s pass-rushing forte, fueled by his explosive twitch — he’s one of the few NFL defensive tackles who can say he played some wide receiver in high school — has been evident. Halton is also one of the most vocal players on the practice field; the rookie roars whenever he wins a rep, and that yell has been heard numerous times already on the sideline. Height also brings unbridled energy — so much that the 49ers are trying to rein some of it in. He’s jumped offsides frequently, including once more on Monday. For a lighter speed rusher, this isn’t uncommon. Height is clearly trying to establish his biggest advantage — burst — as he tries to avoid mano-a-mano combat with heavier offensive tackles. But he’ll have to reduce penalties. Height is pivotal not only to the 49ers’ pass rush, which finished with a league-worst 20 sacks last season, but also to new coordinator Raheem Morris’ plans to diversify the defense. The 49ers plan to hybridize their existing 4-3 scheme with frequent 3-4 alignments that deploy edge rushers such as Height in coverage. “He makes grass disappear,” 49ers defensive line coach Kris Kocurek said. “He works really, really hard. The energy that he plays with. Just the whole package. I’m excited about him.” Along those lines, Jaden Dugger — a fifth-round pick — is most representative of the 49ers’ changing defensive strategy. Dugger, whose 7-foot wingspan is one of the longest in the NFL, has been working mostly at linebacker. But the 49ers did move him to defensive end for one practice with Kocurek last week. That was a preview of how the 49ers might deploy Dugger as Morris strives to combat offenses that have grown increasingly versatile in recent years. “It’s really powerful,” 49ers linebackers coach K.J. Wright said of Dugger on Sunday. “He can play in space. He can go to ‘Mike’ linebacker. He can go down on the edge. On third down, I can see him roaming over the guards. You can do so much with that guy and when you look at him, when offenses start to gameplan for us, you don’t know where he’s going to be. “As smart as he is — that’s what I really appreciate about Dugger, I know it isn’t easy as a rookie playing Mike, Will, Star. I’m stressing his brain a little bit. The game will slow down for him. He’s a smart guy with really good recall.”