Betting their core, and QB, get it done
Tackle’s contract sends unmistakable message
Left tackle isn’t the sexiest job in football, unless you are author Michael Lewis and managed to turn the position into personal riches through a bestselling book and highgrossing movie, basically by pointing out just how unsexy — but necessary — the position is.
Still, Trent Williams just landed the cover of Left Tackle magazine, with the most luscious, richest contract anyone doing the job has ever earned. The 49ers, unwilling to have to search for a left tackle for the second consecutive season, opened their wallet to the perennial Pro Bowler for whom they traded in April, rewarding Williams with a sixyear, $138.06 million contract.
But even with those kind of blockbuster numbers, the story is less about Williams than it is about the real superstars of
football. With Williams in place, the question becomes, as it always does with offensive linemen:
Whom is he going to protect? Yes, it always comes back to the quarterback, as these first few days of freeagent movement have proven once again.
Niners fans have spent most of the past year, ever since the Super Bowl loss, obsessing about the quarterback. (Well, let’s be honest, Niners fans have spent most of the past 70 years obsessing about the quarterback.)
So, what does the Williams signing mean in that context?
It means that the 49ers are betting that with Williams in place, protecting his blind side, Jimmy Garoppolo won’t get hurt. That Garoppolo will be the starter. That the 49ers won’t have to use their top draft pick on an offensive lineman — either through draft or trade — freeing up the No. 12 overall pick to use on a quarterback who both can push Garoppolo and be groomed as his heir. So, all wishes for a different starting quarterback should be tabled.
Houston quarterback Deshaun Watson (who is dealing with issues beyond football this week, facing civil lawsuits alleging inappropriate conduct) is likely to be traded, but he is almost impossibly out of reach for the 49ers. The going rate is thought to be three firstround picks plus two elite starters.
The 49ers’ firstrounder would not be high enough to guarantee the Texans could find a replacement for Watson through the draft. The 49ers’ future firstrounders might not be projected to be very attractive compared with those from other potential suitors. And if you throw highend players like Nick Bosa and Fred Warner into the package, then what’s the point? You’re tearing down one side of your team for the other, which is no way to win.
With Garoppolo almost certainly the 49ers’ starter, the more relevant question becomes the fans’ secondfavorite topic: Who is the backup?
In recent days, many options fell off the table, few of them likely to leave anyone weeping with sorrow. Ryan Fitzpatrick is going to Washington and Andy Dalton agreed to terms with Chicago; both will compete for the starting jobs. Jacoby Brissett and the Dolphins have a pact, as do Tyrod Taylor and the Texans.
If the 49ers really hope to find an experienced quarterback who can come win games if Garoppolo goes out, the pickings are becoming increasingly slim.
Mitchell Trubisky, who is a free agent? Sam Darnold, through a trade? Both probably view themselves as starters. Alex Smith? Still to be determined whether he’s going to keep playing.
Colin Kaepernick? He could offer head coach Kyle Shanahan a tantalizing changeup, but if the goal is signing someone with a dependable recent track record, then someone who hasn’t played in the league for four seasons (through no fault of his own) could be a risky option.
The 49ers can draft a quarterback and groom him to be an effective backup, though that hasn’t worked with C.J. Beathard, a thirdround pick, or with Nick Mullens, who was an undrafted rookie. Taking a quarterback in the first round should, theoretically, give the 49ers a young player more equipped to take the reins. But, as we know, it doesn’t always work out that way.
Williams’ signing is both a huge relief for the 49ers, as well as a huge hit to the pandemic-shrunken budget. The 49ers (who also are adding center Alex Mack to the fold) still have plenty of other needs to fill and items on their check list: get Warner a contract extension; shore up the pass rush; add quality and depth at cornerback, and find a slot receiver to replace Kendrick Bourne, who departed for the Patriots.
But, really, one issue overshadows everything. And even the newly signed, fabulously wealthy Williams knows what the real question is:
What about the quarterback?