49ers

The 49ers stood firm with the first pick of the second round and selected Ole Miss WR De’Zhaun Stribling, who was someone they had their eye on instead of trading the pick away.

“Gold helmet is everything,” vice president of player personnel Tariq Ahmad said, via 49ersWire.com. “And he checked all those boxes. He’s kind of a unique guy. When he transferred in, I’m not certain that Ole Miss knew the quality and caliber of person and player they had early on. Our scouts loved him right away. Our coach loved him right away. Leadership. Goal-oriented. The passion the guy has, the work ethic, the toughness, the durability. He checks all those boxes at a high level.”

• On the Ross Tucker podcast, Greg Cossell said the 49ers’ selection of Stribling at 33 wasn’t as much of a reach to at least one other team: “I spoke to a coach, not with the 49ers, by the way, with another team, who’s been in the league for 35 years. And he had Stribling rated ahead of Makai Lemon.”

Cardinals

Cardinals QB Carson Beck will have plenty of eyes on him as he heads into his first season competing with veterans Jacoby Brissett and Gardner Minshew, yet GM Monti Ossenfort doesn’t feel that the transition will be difficult, given the big games he has played in for Georgia and Miami.

“I think when you see a player who has had big-game experience, when you make this transition to the NFL, there’s more hope that it’s not going to be too big for them, right?” Ossenfort said, via ESPN. “So, it’s not going to be a deer in the headlights. I mean, these guys that have played at these high levels, especially SEC and then into the ACC, these Big Ten programs, like these stadiums are rocking and they go into hostile environments, and so I think that’s always good. I mean, the NFL, there’s no bigger stage, and so I think the transition is a little bit smoother for them.”

“Obviously, it’s super different and I’ve got to put my nose to the grindstone and work, and that’s something that I’ve always done,” Beck commented. “And something that I’ll continue to do and make sure that I have the right approach. And I feel like that’s something I’ve been able to do well over my years in college, and hopefully something that I continue to do at the next level. I think that was a really good year of practice for a transition to a new team. Being able to have that transition and learn a new team, learn a new offense, establish myself as a teammate, as a leader, as a friend to the guys around me, being able to have that experience will set me up for this next year.”

• ESPN’s Adam Schefter says RB Tyler Allgeier left Atlanta for the Cardinals this offseason for more work than he saw in his four years with the Falcons, but Arizona ended up using the No. 3 overall pick on RB Jeremiyah Love. 

Rams

The Rams selected what they hope is their QB of the future, Ty Simpson, with pick No. 13. Simpson said they tried to keep the meetings quiet so other teams wouldn’t know of the Rams’ interest in him.

“We tried to keep this under wraps as long as we could,” Simpson said, via ESPN Radio. “Now it was something to where I knew they were interested, but they wanted to make it private and didn’t want people to know that they were interested. I had some secret meetings with Coach McVay, and I just was trying to be on script and do what everybody told me not to tell anybody. So it was something to where I knew that they were interested. I just didn’t know when, and then sure enough, I had a lot of confidence in myself. That’s why I decided to come out. If it wasn’t them, I felt like that it was gonna be somebody else.”

He also reflected on their meeting at the team facility and expressed an appreciation for HC Sean McVay’s passion for the game. 

“It was great, we met at the facility, and it was something to where we just talked for hours and hours, and it was just football. It was just straight football. It was like a kid in a candy store. Me and him were sitting there, and we’re just going back and forth. You can tell the obsession he has for the game, and you can tell the love he has for quarterback play.”