If you're anything like me, you'll have breathed a sigh of relief yesterday at the announcement of Trent Williams' new deal with the San Francisco 49ers.
The new two-year pact will likely be Williams' last contract, ensuring an end to his career in Santa Clara, and it provides instant relief to one of the weakest positions on the roster. After all, Williams will be age 38 by the start of training camp, but he still remains one of the best tackles in the game, a standard he's held for almost his entire pro career.
Given a lot of my previous comments on the subject, you'd imagine I'm relieved, too, and I am. Not contracting Williams for this year and next would have definitively closed San Francisco's contending window for at least a few years, particularly with no obvious alternative on the roster. Perhaps the team could've selected his replacement in the first round of Thursday's NFL Draft, but there sill would've been a huge dropoff in immediate talent while the rookie got up to speed.
So, all in all, great news for the 49ers.
What worries me now, though, is something that's dogged the Niners throughout almost the entire tenure Williams has spent with them: complacency.
While someone as good as Williams is in the building, the 49ers have paid no heed to the idea of drafting a replacement or heir. In fact, besides Colton McKivitz in 2020 and Jaylon Moore in 2021, the Niners haven't even taken a swing at finding another NFL-capable tackle. Heck, that's what's given Williams the leverage to have his contract adjusted twice in the last three years.
The concern now is that, having confirmed Williams will be in the building for two more years, the 49ers go back to their lackadaisical approach to building their offensive line, something summed up by the coach of the position group, Chris Foerster's, bizarre comments that still bother me almost two years later.
This cannot happen.
While the Niners have raised the floor of their offensive line by signing capable NFL players like Vederian Lowe, Brett Toth, and taking an interesting flyer on former Dolphins guard Robert Jones, they also need to look to the future.
Williams will likely play out his two-year contract, but Jake Brendel will be a free agent following this season, while most players are on one-year deals. Perhaps more concerningly, the O-line room is filled with veterans; the only player who could feasibly be described as a developmental talent in reserve is Connor Colby, last year's seventh-round draft choice out of Iowa.
That's an issue, and you'd much rather have younger players fighting for a spot than a series of replacement-level veterans.
After all, as one former 49ers coach used to say, "iron sharpens iron." I don't think it behooves the 49ers too well to go into the season with five set starters with a few poor backups. Competition is the name of the game.
While I wouldn't be unhappy with it, I should be clear that I'm not advocating the 49ers spend their first-round pick on an offensive lineman. I think that's become less likely with Williams' deal, and in truth, most of the late-first prospects have enough question marks to give San Francisco pause. That said, the 49ers do need to come out of the draft with one or two players marked as future starters, particularly at tackle, and ideally, center.
That might mean drafting a player with center/guard versatility, like Florida's Jake Slaughter, or going with individual picks at each spot. Iowa's Beau Stephens is one player who continually catches my eye, especially given the 49ers' liking for Iowa linemen (given their zone-blocking system matches Kyle Shanahan's).
Regardless, what the Niners cannot do is think that just by tying up Williams' future, they can rest on their laurels. That's happened too many times before.
It looked for all the world like Williams was set to give them a short, sharp dose of reality on the subject this offseason. Luckily, he's back. But perhaps the shock was enough to wake Shanahan and John Lynch out of their complacency at the position.
Let's hope so.
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