Trent Williams has fended off the NFL's grim reaper for longer than most expected, and Father Time has not infringed upon his abilities all that much just yet, if at all. But the San Francisco 49ers can't put off finding a contingency plan for the legendary offensive tackle any longer.
With Williams under contract through at least 2028 (his age-40 season), John Lynch and Co. passed on several options in the 2026 NFL Draft, moving back a few times in Round 1 with offensive tackles in range. But an expert doesn't think San Francisco will do that again at next April's event.
ESPN's Jordan Reid has released a very early 2027 NFL mock draft, and with the No. 28 overall pick (yes, the team fell short again, apparently), the 49ers opt for Stanford offensive tackle Niki Prongos, who is the consummate eventual Williams replacement.
49ers select OT Niki Prongos as Trent Williams replacement in 2027 ESPN mock draft
Even though Lynch blew off the Stanford Pro Day this past spring for the first time in forever, and his propensity to take Cardinal players hasn't been strong since his first few years as the general manager, surely, the 49ers' decision-maker still has a soft spot for prospects from the South Bay.
Prongos also grew up in the North Bay, so he's a local kid with a great story that fans would love. And while he's a very good player already, he has some serious room to grow, too, so he could sit behind Williams until he rides off into the sunset and take the reins from him a year or two down the line.
At 6-foot-7 and 315 pounds, simply put, Prongos is a big prospect. And despite a revolving door next to him on the Stanford offensive line last season, he was a stalwart up front, playing in all 12 games. The results weren't always pretty, but he really showed his potential against Florida State.
Prongos has been one of the more pleasant surprises in my summer film study, and I wanted to make sure he was in this mock," wrote ESPN's Jordan Reid. "There's a bit of projection with this pick, as Prongos is still a work in progress. But the 6-foot-7, 315-pound former walk-on has good foundational tools, and I really like his upward trajectory. Future Hall of Famer Trent Williams will be 39 before next season, so the 49ers eventually have to find his successor. While Prongos has to work on his depth in pass sets and hand violence, he could rise and fill that need for San Francisco.
Part of the reason that Prongos is so raw and rough around the edges is that he didn't start playing football until his senior year of high school, and he played just three games before suffering a season-ending injury. He began his college career by walking on at UCLA in 2022.
Just a few years later, and he became a Power 4 starter. That kind of rapid ascent understandably has scouts excited about what kind of leap he can make with a full year's worth of film to learn from and nearly 1,000 snaps of experience under his belt.
Some may say that it is careless or pointless to add a player in the first round who may not be an immediate contributor in what is absolutely still a Super Bowl window for the 49ers. And to that I say that San Francisco didn't have an issue not getting a first-round talent this past spring.
Blending the present and the future is the hardest thing to do as an NFL franchise, but Lynch and Kyle Shanahan have done this flawlessly over the years. And they can do it again with Prongos, a local kid who can replace Williams but needs to learn from him first to do so. The quintessential replacement.
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