Niners Nation
The Niners drafted a uniquely-built player in the first round. Where does he fit in?
For most teams, the biggest splashes usually come in free agency during the offseason. But, for the 49ers, their top moves over the past few months were extending their three stars and drafting Georgia defensive lineman Mykel Williams in the first round.
Williams, a lengthy, 6’5, 260-pound defensive end, is a bigger-bodied player on the opposite side of Nick Bosa and was one of the youngest players in the 2025 NFL Draft.
He’s expected to immediately bolster the team’s run defense, which struggled both at setting the edge and closing up gaps on the inside in 2024, while potentially developing as a pass-rusher.
Williams’s size and length make him an intriguing fit as a pass-rusher. While he could remain on the outside, many have projected him to move inside on passing downs to rush over the guard, especially with Bryce Huff in the fold.
And it seems the coaching staff has a similar thought process for the first-round rookie.
“We want to utilize his versatility,” defensive line coach Kris Kocurek said. “That’s one of the things at Georgia that he displayed. He can get to the passer from the edge and then slide over guards and utilize that skill set, the wiggle, the ability to get on edges and manipulate guards from the interior, just a really versatile player which is something we’ve always utilized in the past with guys like Arden Key and Charles Omenihu and Arik Armstead.
“The ability to get the job done at both spots, setting the edge in the run game on early downs and then utilizing his versatility on all downs to be able to slide across the front, rush inside, rush outside and be a Swiss Army Knife type dude.”
Kocurek has done well with those unique body types on the interior, as Key, Omenihu, and Armstead all saw good success as pass-rushers in that role. Williams could be the next guy up to take the mantle, especially given the team’s current depth chart on the interior.
That will all come together as the season inches closer. But, for now, it’s about getting up to speed and learning for Williams, which has seemed to come smooth so far.
“All the boxes have checked off so far: his toughness, his love for the game, the skill set that we’ve seen on tape, the skill set that his coaches at Georgia explained that he had in his body,” Kocurek continued.
“A lot of the boxes have checked so far. Now, we’re out there in a geared-down setting in OTA football right now, that you won’t truly get the true assessment of it until we put the pads on in August, and really start going at this at the level that kind of correlates more to Sundays. But so far, so good. We’re really impressed with the kid, his love for the game, his toughness, his eagerness to learn, and then,...
