49ers must re-sign Trent Williams in wake of J.J. Watt to Cardinals

The NFC West just got a bit stickier, and the 49ers are going to be pressured into re-signing Trent Williams after J.J. Watt joined the Cardinals.

The San Francisco 49ers have plenty of NFL free agency priorities heading into 2021, but few are of the caliber of eight-time Pro Bowl left tackle Trent Williams.

And if Williams returning to the Niners this upcoming year wasn’t already a big enough priority, getting him back just became a bigger deal with news San Francisco’s NFC West division rivals, the Arizona Cardinals, are signing superstar defensive end J.J. Watt to a two-year deal.

NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport reported the transaction on Monday, and Watt will join Arizona on a deal worth up to $31 million.

Watt, who’ll turn 32 years old later this month, has seen his otherwise stellar career hindered by injuries in recent seasons. But he did manage to appear in all 16 games for the Houston Texans before requesting to play somewhere else, followed by Houston granting his wish and releasing him earlier this offseason.

And while Watt was limited to just five sacks in 2020, he still is just two years removed from a 16-sack first-team All-Pro campaign with the Texans back in 2018.

It would be one thing if the Cardinals lacked any sort of pass-rushing thump. But Arizona was tied for fourth last year in sacks with 48, and that was without star edge rusher Chandler Jones making much of an impact.

Jones appeared in only five games last season and picked up just one sack, but Arizona’s hope is he’ll return fully healthy and now have Watt at his side.

True, fellow pass-rusher Haason Reddick, who led the Cardinals with 12.5 sacks last year, is a pending free agent and might be difficult for Arizona to re-sign with Watt now in tow. But Reddick enjoyed a career-best year in 2020 and never had more than four sacks in a single season before last year, so some could argue Watt is something of a pass-rushing upgrade if he’s able to stay healthy.

49ers re-signing Trent Williams now a bigger priority than before

San Francisco is going to be limited with its cap resources, currently boasting just north of $13 million available, per Over the Cap. And with nearly 40 other players poised to hit the NFL free agency market, it’ll be tough to retain Williams on a cheap deal.

Especially if he’s able to command a likely $18 million per season, which should be his going rate.

The problem, though is the 49ers don’t exactly have a likable option on their depth chart to replace Williams if he walks. Depth tackles like Justin Skule, Colton McKivitz and Shon Coleman are all regarded as backups, nothing more. And while the 2021 NFL Draft is deep with talented offensive linemen, hoping to match up a rookie against a player of Watt’s caliber would be a tall task.

Simply put, Williams and his agent both have to be feeling pretty happy about Watt joining a Niners division rival they’ll have to face twice a year.

Either way, Watt going to Arizona just put a lot more pressure on San Francisco to keep its biggest free-agent target into 2021 and beyond.

Unless the 49ers are banking on Watt going through a notable regression, which doesn’t seem likely.