De’Zhaun Stribling mistaken for Daejon Love when the injured San Francisco 49ers wide receiver sporting jersey No. 7 was carried to the medical tent

De’Zhaun Stribling mistaken for Daejon Love when the injured San Francisco 49ers wide receiver sporting jersey No. 7 was carried to the medical tent (Image via Getty: De'Zhaun Stribling​)

One wish to have the jersey number of a fake San Francisco wide receiver turned into a shocking meme fest for the 2026 rookie De’Zhaun Stribling.Now, cyberspace is calling Stribling “Daejon Love,” and not by his own name.His first exposure to the NFL gridiron turned into a disastrous meme fest. Something he would have never imagined in his college football life.His one offseason rookie mistake would cost him so much? As much as losing his own identity. Really shocking!

A rookie’s big NFL moment lasted only so long before cyberspace turned it into a brutal joke.A parody X account called BrickCenter shared nine seconds of footage showing De’Zhaun Stribling limping toward the medical tent. The caption? “Daejon Love was carted off the field [folded hands emoji].” Ouch.Stribling was trying to make a name for himself, not inherit someone else’s.And yet, because he was wearing jersey No. 7 - the number fake proudly worn by Daejon Love - the rookie suddenly found himself at the center of cyberspace joke he never asked for.To make matters worse: this happened during the very first game in which Stribling got the opportunity to live out his childhood NFL dream.

Instead of enjoying his moment, an injury forced him into the medical tent.While being taken away, Stribling continuously looked down at his injured leg. You can almost imagine the thought: “Why me?”And then came the cyberspace’s brutal punchline. “Daejon Love.”For Stribling, that nickname could be particularly uncomfortable given the serious criminal allegations and federal conviction associated with Love.Abruptly, a jersey-number coincidence has turned into a full-blown joke that could follow the rookie around far longer than anyone expects.Seriously, cyberspace? Is this what happens to every rookie who dares to wear a number previously associated with someone fake?Will Stribling now have to spend the rest of his NFL tenure answering to “Daejon Love” chants simply because he wore No. 7? Hopefully not.Because beneath the memes and savage X posts is a rookie who just suffered an injury during a moment he had probably dreamed about since childhood.And that brings us to the crucial question that truly matters: How serious is De’Zhaun Stribling’s injury?

San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan said Stribling has an injured ankle, but his Achilles is intact.“They checked his Achilles, and they said that was intact,” Shanahan told reporters in the post-win press conference.This means he could be back and may not miss the entire 2026 NFL season before it even starts!The 2026 rookie suffered an ankle injury in the first quarter of the Thursday Night Football game against the Los Angeles Rams.He left temporarily but came back in the second quarter of the game, only to leave again abruptly after he fell to the ground in immense pain while running a route.As of now, he doesn’t have an Achilles tear, but his injury looked bad: he was limping and had to be helped off and carted to the locker room.

Head coach Kyle Shanahan also said, “They are not exactly sure of the magnitude of the ankle injury. They are not sure.”This means his recovery could be uncertain, depending on further tests needed to determine the injury’s extent.The best part? He’ll have 10 days to recover before the next San Francisco 49ers game.And maybe, till then, people and cyberspace will have forgotten that he was once a blue moon called “Daejon Love.” At this moment, nobody wants to be associated with a fake NFL player.