Robert Saleh is back as the defensive coordinator of the San Francisco 49ers, and it’s a good bet the team will make moves this offseason to address a defense that ranked 29th in the NFL in opponent points per play.
The defensive line would be a good place to start, as San Fran’s usually ferocious defense had a hard time finishing at the QB in 2024. The 49ers closed the year with 37 total sacks, which ranked tied with the depleted Detroit Lions for 23rd in football.
Marcus Mosher of the 33rd Team recently projected a solution, urging the 49ers to sign ascending Philadelphia Eagles star Milton Williams in free agency. Here was Mosher’s take on the 25-year-old defensive tackle landing in The City:
He is undersized, but he is just 26 years old, and he is an ascending player. Who knows how the 49ers will pull it off in free agency, but we’ve seen over and over again that this team will be competitive when it comes to adding the top players on the market.
The 49ers would likely have major competition for Williams from the team that drafted him with a third-round pick in 2021. Eagles GM Howie Roseman builds his rosters from the trenches out, and Williams is the type of drafted and developed talent that typically earns a second contract from Philadelphia.
With that said, the Eagles had a chance to extend Williams this past offseason and passed, instead letting him play out the final season of his rookie contract. The aforementioned Lions then did Roseman and the Eagles no favors by signing DT Alim McNeil to a four-year, $97 million extension in October. McNeil was selected the pick before Williams in the 2021 NFL Draft, and the two players have had comparable production through their first four years in the league.
Spotrac projects Williams’ next contract to be in the range of three years, $36 million. At that price, it’s hard to see Philly letting him walk in free agency. Mosher’s number hits closer to the McNeil range — three years, $60 million — and that could be the offer that pries Williams from Philadelphia this offseason.
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