3 reasons why SF 49ers must re-sign Trent Willams in 2021

It won’t be easy, but the SF 49ers must make any and all attempts to re-sign veteran offensive tackle Trent Williams in 2021.

The SF 49ers received a painful lesson, one of many, during their Week 9 Thursday Night Football loss to the visiting Green Bay Packers.

Left tackle Trent Williams is awfully important to head coach Kyle Shanahan’s offense.

Williams, of course, was placed on the reserve/COVID-19 list mere days before the game and will likely miss the Niners’ Week 10 road bout against the New Orleans Saints, too, barring some sort of unusual development. And that likely means Shanahan will have to turn to second-year pro swing tackle Justin Skule, who was absolutely dominated by Packers edge rushers Preston Smith and Za’Darius Smith during Thursday’s loss.

It’s hard to envision Skule ever becoming a long-term starting option for San Francisco, or any other team, from this point going forward. Perhaps a backup, but that’s it.

And it only presses the need for the SF 49ers to somehow retain Williams, a pending free agent in 2021, next year.

This won’t be easy. As part of his deal after being traded to the Niners last April, Williams can’t be franchise tagged next season. It’s either a new deal from San Francisco or him testing the open market. With the SF 49ers pegged to have just over $20 million in cap space for 2021, currently according to Over the Cap, it’s going to be a tall order to re-sign the seven-time Pro Bowler.

But that doesn’t mean the Niners should do whatever they can to retain his services even with the roster’s other pending free-agent concerns.

Here are three reasons why it’s so important.