SANTA CLARA, Calif. (AP) — The San Francisco 49ers made their delayed first pick of the NFL draft, selecting Ole Miss wide receiver De'Zhaun Stribling with the top pick in the second round on Friday.
The 49ers came into the draft with the 27th overall pick in the first round but made two trades down on Thursday night to add more draft capital on the final two days of the draft. They used their first pick Friday to take Stribling 33rd overall and then traded down again with their second pick in the second round before taking Texas Tech defensive end Romello Height 70th overall.
This was the third time in the past 30 drafts that San Francisco didn’t make a first-round pick with it also happening in 2022 and ’23 after the team had traded those first-rounders to move up for quarterback Trey Lance in 2021.
Stribling spent his first two seasons in college at Washington State and the next two at Oklahoma State before joining Ole Miss last season. He had 55 catches for 811 yards and six TDs to help the Rebels reach the semifinals of the College Football Playoff
The 49ers addressed the receiver spot in free agency with deals for veterans Mike Evans and Christian Kirk, but opted to add another young receiver to build around long term along with 2024 first-round pick Ricky Pearsall.
Brandon Aiyuk was expected to fill that role after signing a four-year, $120 million extension before the 2024 season, but an injury followed by his decision to leave the team last season forced the team to go in another direction. Aiyuk is expected to be cut — or possibly traded — in the coming days or weeks.
Stribling gives the Niners another speed option outside after he ran a 4.36 40-yard dash at the scouting combine. He averaged 7.4 yards after catch and is a skilled blocker which should fit well in coach Kyle Shanahan's system.
“I’m a very versatile guy,” Stribling said. “I can do a lot of things and also block at a high level. So very excited to go out there and contribute in the pass game, but also the run game also.”
The 25-year-old Height provides a needed boost to San Francisco's pass rush that finished last in the NFL with 20 sacks last season. Height had 10 sacks last season after spending his first five years in college at Auburn, USC and Georgia Tech. He had just 6 1/2 sacks in his first five college seasons.
Height is more of a designated pass rusher and could complement last year's first-round pick Mykel Williams, who is stronger against the run and has the ability to move inside on passing downs.
The 49ers have one more pick on Friday with the 90th in the third round. San Francisco also has four fourth-round picks and one fifth-rounder on Saturday.
The Niners traded linebacker Dee Winters to Dallas on Friday for a fifth-round pick. San Francisco packaged that pick with the No. 58 pick and got picks 70 and 107 from Cleveland.
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FILE - Mississippi wide receiver De'Zhaun Stribling (35) runs a drill at the NFL football scouting combine in Indianapolis, Feb. 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy, Fiel)
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — The Indianapolis Colts needed a playmaking linebacker to help them complete a major offseason defensive overhaul.
CJ Allen seemed like a perfect fit.
So after watching the first round of the NFL draft Thursday and trading back six spots when they finally went on the clock Friday, the Colts took Allen at No. 53 overall.
“They’re getting someone who can run and hit,” he told reporters on a conference call just minutes after he finished speaking with the Colts brain trust.
At 6-feet, 230 pounds, Allen certainly made his presence felt over the last three seasons at Georgia. He started five games for the national champions as a freshman before serving as the defensive play-caller on back-to-back playoff teams in 2024 and 2025.
Last season, Allen led the Bulldogs with 88 tackles and eight tackles for loss while posting 3 1 /2 sacks, breaking up four passes, forcing two fumbles and recovering one on his way to first team All-American honors. He also was a semifinalist for the Jason Witten Collegiate Man of the Year Award and the Bednarik Award, which goes to college football’s best defensive player.
And Allen insisted he learned one key lesson while playing for coach Kirby Smart.
“Good is not good enough,” he said. “The standard for us, especially coming from Georgia, good is the lowest bar you can be. But you’ve got to earn it, you’ve got to work.”
Allen became Indy’s highest drafted linebacker since Ben Banogu went No. 49 overall in the 2019 draft. But Banogu played primarily on the defensive line.
Still, the selection was no surprise given all the changes Indy has made this offseason. He adds another body to a position that looked thin and is expected to fill the void left by Zaire Franklin, who was traded to Green Bay in March. Franklin topped the 100-tackle mark in each of the last four seasons and ranked among the league's leaders with 167, 179 and 173 from 2022-24.
But the revamp was put on pause Thursday because Indy traded its first-round pick to the New York Jets for two-time All-Pro cornerback Sauce Gardner in a trade deadline deal last fall. Then the Colts swapped their second-round pick, No. 47, with Pittsburgh to pick up an extra Day 3 selection.
In addition to Franklin, the Colts also starting defensive end Kwity Paye and starting safety Nick Cross in free agency while a fourth ttarter, former Pro Bowl cornerback Kenny Moore II, has requested a trade.
General manager Chris Ballard opted to beef up his defensive front by signing defensive ends Arden Key and Michael Clemons and defensive tackles Derrick Nnadi and Jerry Tillery in free agency. He also acquired defensive tackle Colby Wooden from the Packers.
The Colts signed safeties Jonathan Owens, Cam Taylor-Britt and Juanyeh Thomas and linebacker Akeem Davis-Gaither in free agency before convincing safety Nasir Adderley to come out of retirement after three seasons away from the game.
The Colts still have one more pick, a third-round selection on Friday, and now have six picks Saturday.
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FILE - Georgia linebacker CJ Allen (01) speaks during a press conference at the NFL football scouting combine in Indianapolis, Feb. 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy, File)
