5 questions SF 49ers must answer before 2021 NFL Draft

No. 3: Can the SF 49ers re-sign Trent Williams?

Out of all the pending free agents San Francisco has on its roster, few are as important to re-sign as perennial Pro Bowl left tackle Trent Williams.

Granted, if Williams leaves in free agency, the SF 49ers would get a notable compensatory draft pick in 2022. But that won’t help matters at all right now, especially considering Williams was the best and most reliable piece they had along their offensive line all last season.

Turning 33 years old before the start of this upcoming season, Williams won’t command quite the top dollar as other elite-level tackles like the Green Bay Packers’ David Bakhtiari, the Baltimore Ravens’ Ronnie Stanley or the Houston Texans’ Laremy Tunsil, who each received massive paydays recently. But still, Williams could be looking for a new contract in the range of $18 million annually, and it’ll be awfully difficult for the Niners to free up that much cap space without some serious alterations to the roster elsewhere.

Williams will have no shortage of suitors, particularly teams with a lot more cap space than San Francisco.

Granted, many of those squads are in rebuild mode, so there’s a chance Williams elects to stay with the SF 49ers on a cheaper deal in order to have a better shot at winning a Super Bowl.

But the lofty payday could prove to be attractive, and the Niners better have a number of contingency plans, both elsewhere in free agency and during the draft, should Williams walk.