With Williams, 49ers offense has a chance to be better than Super Bowl team

SANTA CLARA — The 49ers should be thrilled they were able to keep Trent Williams from signing with the Kansas City Chiefs.

The talented left tackle was close to leaving San Francisco for the team that beat them in Super Bowl LIV. Williams said Tuesday he was leaning that direction and let head coach Kyle Shanahan know just before the 49ers improved their offer to bring back the eight-time Pro Bowl selection.

“Once I got the hunch that KC seemed like they were ready to make it official, I called Kyle,” Williams said over Zoom. “I couldn't even get it out and just tell him, but I was just like `Hey man, we need to hurry this up, if you get my drift.'”

Shanahan caught the drift and the 49ers signed Williams to a six-year deal worth up to $138.06 million, coming through over the Chiefs, which they failed to do when the two teams squared off in Miami. The deal pays Williams $60.7 million during the first three seasons, after which there are triggers for the remaining three years, essentially making it a pair of three-year agreements, giving both sides flexibility when the salary cap is expected to spike in 2023, when Williams is 35.

It was undoubtedly the biggest move of the offseason for the 49ers to date. Retaining Williams means the team doesn't have to find a new left tackle with its limited resources, leading to bringing back other free agents such as fullback Kyle Juszczyk, cornerback Jason Verrett and slot corner K'waun Williams, who was a key piece of the 2019 defense that anchored the team's conference championship two years ago.

Williams also sets up San Francisco's offense to succeed regardless of who's at quarterback, whether that's Jimmy Garoppolo or someone else. The options for a viable upgrade appear to be gone now that Matthew Stafford landed with the Rams in a trade for Jared Goff and a pair of second-round draft

picks. Additionally, the growing number of sexual misconduct allegations against Texans star Deshaun Watson make a trade all but impossible for the foreseeable future.

Garoppolo’s polarizing play

Garoppolo has become a polarizing figure. His inability to stay healthy has derailed two of the last three seasons when he tore his ACL early in 2018 before a Week 2 high ankle sprain, on top of injuries to other stars, ruined the team's “redemption tour” last fall.

When Garoppolo played a full season for the first and only time in 2019, coming off his knee injury, he helped San Francisco finish 13-3. He tied for the league lead with four fourth-quarter comebacks and was the NFL'S only signal-caller to rank in the top five in passing touchdowns, completion percentage and yards per attempt.

Then Garoppolo threw an interception late in the second quarter against the Minnesota Vikings in the Divisional Round playoff game, and it appeared Shanahan took the ball out of Garoppolo's hands. Shanahan dialed up just eight passes in the conference championship while Raheem Mostert had a recordsetting day on the ground. Then there were Garoppolo's fourthquarter struggles against the Chiefs (in conjunction with San Francisco's defensive meltdown) that have changed the way Garoppolo is viewed.

That all makes Garoppolo a boom-or-bust proposition the 49ers in 2021. Surely they'd like more stability, but the avenues to finding it are getting walled off. Finding a franchise quarterback in the draft is a 50-50 prospect, a success rate which is on the same level as bringing Garoppolo back. Plus drafting a quarterback would prevent San Francisco from addressing other key spots, like pass rusher, cornerback, offensive line and receiver.

But there's a way to combat that volatility under center. For the 49ers it's about creating an offensive system that can succeed even if Garoppolo can't play, and the team is able to upgrade from Nick Mullens and C.J. Beathard at the backup spots. That remains to be seen, but don't be surprised if the team makes a run at Jacksonville's Gardner Minshew in a trade.

The 49ers offense might be better

A case can be made the 49ers have a more talented offense in 2021 than when they reached the Super Bowl in 2019 while ranking second in scoring and fourth in overall yardage.

Williams, arguably the NFL'S best left tackle, is an upgrade over Joe Staley, who played in only seven regular season games due to knee, back and finger issues en route to the Super Bowl. New center Alex Mack is still a dependable starter, though he hasn't played at the same All-pro level that made him a member of the All-decade team for the 2010. He should provide an upgrade over Weston Richburg and Ben Garland, shoring up an area where San Francisco struggled mightily in 2020.

Richburg, who signed a fiveyear, $47.5 million pact in 2018, didn't play a snap last season. His loss went largely under the radar.

“Any time Kyle's offense has been successful, it pretty much starts from the center,” Williams said of Mack. “The center is the brain trust of our offense and our offensive line, so to get a guy who is an All Pro, that's a Pro Bowler, that literally plays the position at the highest level you can play it at for as long as he has in the NFL, you can't ask for anything better than that.”

Looking at the team's skill positions, Deebo Samuel is entering his third season after proving invaluable as a rookie when he was healthy. A fractured foot last summer put him behind the eight ball all season, which included a stint away from the team due to COVID-19 contact tracing; and he went on injured reserve late in the year with a hamstring issue. A healthy season for Samuel in 2020 could see him develop into a star.

Then there's Brandon Aiyuk, who might be the team's best and most consistent receiver. Last year's first-round pick appeared in 12 games, made 60 catches for 748 yards, five touchdowns and added two rushing scores. His receptions were the second-most by a rookie in team history behind only Jerry Rice, while his yardage trailed only Rice and Samuel. Those numbers came while catching passes from Garoppolo in just five games. His other seven came with the backups.

“I'm real excited about him going into year two,” Shanahan said in December. “He's here for a reason and it's to really help us out, which he did this year, but him and Deebo have gotten both their rookie years out of the way now. Deebo didn't get a chance, really, at a second year, but I expect both of those guys to have a very good offseason and come back ready to take it to another level to help our offense out.”

49ers need Kittle healthy

There's also tight end George Kittle, who was limited to a season-low eight games last year after appearing not missing more than two in his previous three seasons.

Of course, health is a variable the 49ers would like more control of. They had the majority of their key starters available, save for Richburg and nose tackle D.J. Jones, when they played in Super Bowl LIV. The Buccaneers while winning the most recent Super Bowl led the league in adjusted games lost (30.6), according to Football Outsiders' injury tracking data, while the 49ers were dead last at 166.6.

Normalizing injuries and not losing Garoppolo, Nick Bosa, Richard Sherman, Kittle, Samuel, first- and second-string centers, Dee Ford, all three of the team's top running backs and others for extended stretches could lead to 2021 looking far more like 2019 than last year.

“The difference from this year and two years ago, is two years ago we hadn't proved it,” Juszczyk said. “We all believed it, we had shown glimpses of it, but we hadn't really put it all together. And now, I feel like we've done it, we've been through it, we've won 13 games in a regular season, so we know how that feels, we know it's possible. The majority of those guys are going to be here to try and do it again. We got some good, fresh new faces for the guys that aren't here to step in. So, yeah, I just feel like we're in great position to return to where we were at two years ago.”

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