Trent Williams isn’t going anywhere.
In the weeks leading up to the NFL draft, the 49ers telegraphed that they would take a tackle — Trent Williams’ successor, presumably — with the team’s first-round pick.
But when the start of the first round seemingly featured only quarterbacks, receivers and offensive tackles, taking some presumed viable options for the 49ers off the board well before the team went on the running clock, San Francisco pivoted.
And when the Niners didn’t trade for Washington tackle Roger Rosengarten in the second round, the message sent was unequivocal.
Williams, 35, has flirted with retirement in recent seasons, but is under contract to play three more seasons with the Niners.
By not taking his heir apparent in this draft, San Francisco told the league they thought they would get at least two of those seasons from Williams.
Otherwise, they would have taken a tackle and given him a season to learn from the master before taking over in 2025.
This is not a team that messes around in the draft regarding positions of need. But they drafted two guards who can be swing tackles at best this week. There are no heirs apparent on the list.
The Niners clearly don’t think they’ll need him until this time next year, at the earliest.
And as for Colton McKivitz, the team’s publicly maligned right tackle — you can do better, you can do worse, and the Niners like him a lot more than the public does. Those two guards they chose? Both come from the McKivitz/Dan Brunskill school of versatile offensive linemen.
McKivitz may not be the long-term option, but he will be the man for the job in the short term.
The 49ers aren’t just building around Brock Purdy; they will also change their attack for him.
This is the first offseason the 49ers can work with a Purdy who can throw a football.
And given that we already saw some appreciable changes in the Niners’ offense last season, coming off a season where Purdy was coming off surgery on his throwing elbow, I suspect we’re going to see even more changes in the offense by 2024. .
The Niners’ draft picks told us that, too.
Ricky Pearsall will replace Deebo Samuel at the “Z” receiver position for the 2025 season, and the Niners can move him all over the field in the meantime.
But Jacob Cowing (fourth round, No. 135) is the kind of player who is a true slot receiver.
And I think the 49ers will use more of them in 2024.
In the past, the Niners were a 21-person team. That’s two running backs (one fullback) in the backfield, one tight end and two wide receivers.
But that doesn’t mean the Niners can’t be something different. The Rams, for example, run a “Shanahan-style offense” (that’s code for an oversized zone running game that puts linebackers and safeties in conflict in the passing game), but they do usually with 11 people – a running back, a tight end and three wide receivers.
And the Niners had the fourth-emptiest lineup on opening down in the league last year. That’s, at a minimum, a set of four wide receivers (although in many cases, one of those “receivers” was running back Christian McCaffrey.)
Shanahan said they began expanding the passing game last year to accommodate Purdy, who ran a spread offense at Iowa State and, unlike his predecessor, can push the ball down the sideline, it doesn’t matter where he is lined up at the time of the snap.
Don’t be surprised if they develop this project in 2024. They have the means to do it now.
The team’s draft values have changed.
No team leaves the draft thinking the players selected are going to be failures, but every team understands the risks associated with new prospects.
The 49ers have tried to mitigate that risk in this draft, choosing high-profile players who can contribute immediately at all levels.
In the past, this team was all or nothing. This created first-round misses and late-round gems.
This season, San Francisco was trying to build some serious depth for the 2024 season and beyond.
And if the Niners had to sacrifice a bit of the “boom” for that low potential for a bust, so be it.
They’ll probably be better off.
California Daily Newspapers