SF 49ers: 4 low-profile free agents team should bring back in 2021

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Defensive end Jordan Willis #78 of the San Francisco 49ers (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images) /

No. 1: SF 49ers EDGE Jordan Willis

Once the Niners lost edge rushers Nick Bosa and Dee Ford to season-ending injuries in Week 2, they made some desperate moves to reinforce their pass rush.

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One of those was to exchange day-three draft picks with the NY Jets to acquire a former third-round pick, EDGE Jordan Willis, who put together a modestly impressive campaign in San Francisco over seven games in a support role.

Willis, 25 years old, still has plenty of room to develop as a player yet managed to set a career-best in sacks, picking up 2.5 with the SF 49ers in limited usage.

Aside from teams never having too many pass-rushers, keeping Willis around into 2021 and beyond makes a lot of sense. It’s possible Kerry Hyder, who led the team with 8.5 sacks last season, elects to cash in on a bigger free-agent deal elsewhere. The Niners also have to be concerned about Ford’s long-term health, too, meaning there could be a substantial lack of depth on the outside behind Bosa.

If Willis found something of a niche with San Francisco last season, and the stats suggest he did, it would make more than enough sense for John Lynch and Co. to retain him on what would clearly be a cheap deal.

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And one intended to help push Willis higher up his trajectory.