Corner market: K’Waun Williams to stay with 49ers
The depressed freeagent market is allowing the 49ers to keep the status quo in their secondary.
On Wednesday, two days after he visited the Chiefs and nine days after free agency’s legaltampering period began, slot cornerback K’Waun Williams returned to the 49ers on a oneyear deal, a league source said. Williams’ signing came two days after starting strong safety Jaquiski Tartt returned to the 49ers on a oneyear contract after exploring his options.
The 49ers have kept seven starters with signings or extensions since March 14. The others are left tackle Trent Williams, fullback Kyle Juszczyk, nose tackle D.J. Jones and cor
nerbacks Jason Verrett and Emmanuel Moseley.
The 49ers probably didn’t expect to pull off these moves this offseason, when they had 34 players scheduled to be restricted or unrestricted free agents and modest salarycap space. However, they created more than $18 million in cap room by restructuring the contracts of center Weston Richburg and pass rusher Dee Ford.
And they have benefited from a lessthanrobust market, with teams feeling the financial squeeze because of the falling salary cap. The $182.5 million cap fell $15.7 million from 2020 because of lost revenue from the pandemicimpacted season. On Wednesday, 20 teams had less than $14 million in cap space, according to OverTheCap.com.
Given the landscape, many players are choosing to sign oneyear deals, which gives them another chance at free agency in 2022 when the cap figures to rise. K’Waun Williams, Tartt, Verrett and Jones all signed oneyear contracts.
Williams, 29, the 49ers’ starting slot corner since 2017, was on the market for the first time since he established himself as one of the NFL’s top players at his position.
The financial details of Williams’ contract haven’t been revealed, but it’s likely to fall in the neighborhood of the contracts signed by other top slot corners who were on the market. Desmond King signed a oneyear, $3.5 million deal with the Texans. Troy Hill signed a twoyear deal with $4.5 million guaranteed with the Browns. And Mike Hilton, viewed as the top slot corner available, signed a fouryear deal with a maximum value of $24 million with the Bengals. Hilton received $6 million guaranteed, none in the final three years of his deal.
The 49ers’ starting secondary appears to be set. Williams, Verrett, Moseley and Tartt will rejoin free safety Jimmie Ward.
Unless the 49ers use an earlyround draft pick on a cornerback, Moseley will replace Richard Sherman, 32, who remains on the freeagent market.