Is figuring out life after Trent Williams important? Yes. The top priority of 2026? That’s questionable.
Over the last few weeks, I’ve gone over some mock drafts and gone from banging the table for the San Francisco 49ers to figure out this left tackle thing to saying there really isn’t much they can do.
By “left tackle thing,” I’m referring to the 49ers and Trent Williams, who remain in a standstill getting a contract extension worked out. Yes, Williams has a ton of leverage, and yes, the 49ers should
have had something waiting in case of this very scenario. Then again, for a left tackle, you don’t really just have someone waiting on the sidelines for a year or two to play. It’s usually a free agent or they believe the current left tackle is on the way out and they have someone to plug in (which is not unlike the one-two punch of the 49ers trading for Williams and then-left tackle Joe Staley retiring the same day). It’s not like quarterbacks, where you draft a backup and say they’ll start when they are ready.
Regardless of how they go about it, the 49ers need to start planning for a future without Trent Williams. Is that really the primary objective in 2026? NFL.com’s Gennaro Filice thinks so:
At publishing, the 49ers remain in a contract standoff with Trent Williams. Three months from now, the 12-time Pro Bowler turns 38 years old. You see where I’m going here: San Francisco needs to find the heir apparent at left tackle. The Niners gave Brock Purdy a $265 million extension last offseason. Now it’s time to shore up the franchise QB’s blind side for the foreseeable future. At No. 27 overall, San Francisco’s first-round pick sits in the range where a developmental tackle like Caleb Lomu or Max Iheanachor could be available. The Niners continue to exude confidence that they’ll eventually find common ground with Williams, so draft the project, have him learn from an all-time great and set up a nice transition at a critical position.
I’d actually agree—to some extent. While they don’t need to make a de facto “next Trent Williams” designation on a rookie, they do need to have something—anything. A plan is what is needed, not so much a successor but a plan of when this ends and what the answer will be.
NBC Sports Bay Area’s Matt Maiocco did a deep dive on the successor question over at his YouTube channel a couple of weeks ago, and I encourage everyone to give it a listen. The gist of it is that the majority of left tackles drafted were made starters almost overnight.
What this means is the 49ers don’t necessarily need to make sure Williams’ successor is on the roster in 2026, but it does mean that the scouting department needs to work overtime so that when the 49ers and Williams officially call it quits, they have a couple of players they can grab in a future draft. Or, the 49ers know who will hit the trade block and get a trade going. A long-term succession plan isn’t a goal here.
We’ve seen a couple of left tackles going to the 49ers in mock drafts. Whether they are good fits for the offense is up to you. One option is to draft a tackle to play on the right side his rookie season and then hand the keys over the next year. The problem with this is that Colton McKivitz has a cap number of $5,823,555 in 2026. Cutting him pre-June 1 would cost the 49ers an additional $12.4 million against the cap — dead money of $18.3 million on a player who may not even be starting. A post-June 1 cut is essentially cap neutral, with roughly $6 million in dead money and next to nothing in cap savings. Either way, the 49ers aren’t getting out clean. It would make the McKivitz extension earlier this year a total head-scratcher.
Is a timeline or plan for Trent Williams needed? Absolutely. Is a succession plan dotted in 2026 priority numero uno? No. The priority for the 49ers should be the defensive line and an end opposite Nick Bosa. The pass rush has been disappointing for far, far too long. Sure, the 49ers’ offensive line has had issues as well, but Nick Bosa isn’t getting any younger. With the addition of Osa Odighizuwa at defensive tackle and a healthy Mykel Williams (here’s hoping), the 49ers are getting closer to making strides in getting attention taken off Bosa. An edge rusher opposite him could be a piece that speeds everything up (and helps the secondary since the quarterback will have less time to find someone open).
