Since the San Francisco 49ers fell at the hands of their bitter rivals, the Seattle Seahawks, in the NFC Divisional Round, their top needs heading into the offseason were clear. The club would need to finally solve its perennial pass-rush woes, and it would need to rebuild a wide receiver corps that is set to lose Jauan Jennings and Brandon Aiyuk and hasn't been able to rely on Ricky Pearsall to stay healthy.
That already seemed like a lot, with those edge rushers and receivers being among the most valuable non-quarterback positions on the field, but things were only about to get more complicated.
Trent Williams' $38.8 million cap hit for 2026 is untenable, but the Niners have been at a standstill while trying to renegotiate with the perennial Pro Bowler. If they indeed move on from the soon-to-be 38-year-old, it will open another glaring and expensive hole to fill this offseason.
Some of these needs will be able to be filled once free agency opens next week, but San Francisco won't be able to plug all the holes in the damn, so we decided to see how it could go about rectifying these issues via a four-round mock draft.
To do this, we used Pro Football Focus's mock draft simulator, and we didn't make any trades. The idea here is to see who could be available to fill the needs at each pick, while also exercising careful consideration for the value of each selection. As with real life, drafting solely for need will get you in trouble, but ignoring it completely will yield an unbalanced mess of a roster.
We tried to thread the needle as best we could.
4-round mock draft to best position 49ers in light of Trent Williams' contract drama
Round 1 - Pick 27 - Kadyn Proctor - OT - Alabama
This might seem like an overreaction to the Williams situation, but it's not. The pick came down to Kadyn Proctor or wide receiver KC Concepcion. Concepcion posted a 10.3-percent drop rate, which made us wary.
Proctor, on the other hand, has a ceiling that we couldn't pass up. He's a massive tackle prospect measuring in at nearly 6-foot-7, 352 pounds, and comes out of a pro-style offense at Alabama where he was put in situations that should translate well to the NFL game.
The size is a bit of a concern, but with 274 pounds of lean muscle, he compares favorably to several recent 350-plus-pound tackles who have had success in the NFL. He's an athletic freak who posted a 77.6 pass-blocking grade in true pass sets and an 83.6 zone-blocking grade, making him a good schematic fit for Kyle Shanahan.
Proctor can play too high and needs to refine some technical aspects of his game. He doesn't turn age 21 until June, making him one of the youngest prospects in the draft. In an ideal world, he'd learn behind Williams for a year and take over in 2027, but we might not be so lucky.
Round 2 - Pick 58 - Joshua Josephs - EDGE - Tennessee
Back to the trenches for another SEC product, this time the 49ers select an edge rusher to provide a jolt to the pass rush in Joshua Josephs.
He's a bit of a project coming out, playing mostly as a stand-up outside linebacker, but he has the athleticism where he could adapt to rushing with his hand down. He has a variety of pass-rush moves at his disposal and posted a 21.3-percent pass-rush win rate and a 91.3 pass-rush grade in true pass sets, which shows he can get after the quarterback.
Weighing in at just 242 pounds, he's on the lighter side, which causes him two main issues. First is that he can easily be displaced in the run game, and the second is that he struggles to convert speed-to-power as a pass-rusher. Fortunately, scouts think he can add weight to his frame without sacrificing speed. He'll be a situational pass-rusher in year one, with the chance to develop into an every-down player down the road.
Round 3 - Pick 92 - Malachi Fields - WR - Notre Dame
Malachi Fields is not the prototypical Shanahan receiver. At 6-foot-4, 222 pounds, he's a big, outside receiver who excels at the contested catch. Overall, his hands are a big selling point, recording just one drop all season.
But while he might not be an ideal route runner, and he has only average speed, even when taking his size into consideration, he has surprising agility and a variety of moves to generate yards after the catch. With 5.3 average YAC per reception and 2.2 yards per route run, he has the tools to succeed in San Francisco's aerial attack.
Round 4 - Pick 127 - Bud Clark - S - TCU
Bud Clark is a versatile safety with serious ballhawking chops who could be an intriguing addition to the 49ers' safety room. With 15 career interceptions (four coming in 2025), he can be a back-end eraser who can also come down and match up against tight ends in a big-nickel role.
Clark will need to clean up his tackling technique because, although he is a willing tackler, he regularly dives for the ball carrier's ankles, leading to too many misses.
As an added bonus, he played special teams at TCU, giving him an immediate role with San Francisco as his skills develop further.
Round 4 - Pick 133 - Dallen Bentley - TE - Utah
San Francisco needs to start beginning to think about life after George Kittle, even if the superstar isn't ready to call it quits yet. Fortunately, we were able to pick up one of our favorite sleepers who could end up being Kittle's heir in this mock draft.
Dallen Bentley was only a starter for one year at Utah, but that one year was a doozy. He caught 48 balls for 620 yards and six touchdowns without recording a single drop. His 2.07 yards per route run and 5.4 YAC per reception were both superb marks. He's also a willing and talented run blocker.
Bentley has the size you want at the position, coming in at 6-foot-4, 253 pounds, while also showing off some impressive speed at his size, running a 4.62 40-yard dash at the combine.
His inexperience means he likely won't make a big splash right away, but he has all the tools to be an impact tight end in the NFL and will have a perfect mentor in Kittle.
Round 4 - Pick 138 - Skyler Gill-Howard - DT - Texas Tech
Looking for more pass-rush juice, we have the 49ers going in a different direction with their final fourth-round pick.
Skyler Gill-Howard is something of a tweener. Listed at 290 pounds in college, he weighed in at 280 at the NFL Combine. While that typically isn't ideal, the Niners have favored smaller, more explosive defensive tackles in the past, and prefer them even more if they can kick outside on occasion.
Gill-Howard has a motor and some production to back it up. An ankle injury ended his season after just seven games, but in that time, he was productive, racking up 12 pressures and eight run stops.
He's a guy who plays with his hair on fire and works best as a 1-gapping three technique, which fits San Francisco well. However, his lack of ideal size and short arms work against him. This is a play on ability over physical traits, and he could have a shot to earn a job as a rotational defensive tackle in 2026.