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49ers Take Georgia Defensive End Mykel Williams in New Mock Draft

Williams would be a terrific pick. He's 6'5", 260 lbs. with long arms -- he's built like Aldon Smith.
Grant Cohn|
Feb 26, 2025; Indianapolis, IN, USA; Georgia defensive lineman Mykel Williams (DL73) during the 2025 NFL Scouting Combine at the Indiana Convention Center. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images
Feb 26, 2025; Indianapolis, IN, USA; Georgia defensive lineman Mykel Williams (DL73) during the 2025 NFL Scouting Combine at the Indiana Convention Center. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

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San Francisco 49ers

INDIANAPOLIS -- It's no secret the 49ers want to upgrade their defensive line this offseason.

They need starters on the interior and the edge, and they need to improve their run defense and pass rush. Other than all that, their defensive line is fantastic.

The 49ers could take a defensive tackle with the 11th pick, but it's unclear whether one who fits their Wide 9 defensive front will be available. The 49ers have drafted two defensive tackles with top 15 picks since Kyle Shanahan and John Lynch joined the franchise in 2017, and those picks were giant busts -- Solomon Thomas and Javon Kinlaw.

So maybe the 49ers will take a defensive end instead. The only edge rusher Lynch and Shanahan have drafted in Round 1 is Nick Bosa, and he's pretty good. Why not draft another one?

That's what CBS's Mike Renner projects the 49ers to do in his latest mock draft. He has them taking Georgia defensive end Mykel Williams with the 11th pick.

Williams would be a terrific pick. He's 6'5", 260 lbs. with long arms -- he's built like Aldon Smith. He's the best run defender of the edge players in this draft. He was a starter as a freshman on a National Championship team. He looks like a player who will be in the NFL for more than 10 seasons.

The knock on Williams is his pass-rush production -- he never recorded more than 5 sacks in a season. But that's because he mostly played four-technique, meaning inside the tight end, because he's so good against the run. It's virtually impossible to put up big sack numbers from that spot.

On the 49ers, Williams would play a wide 9 technique, meaning outside the tight end. So he wouldn't have to face double teams and his pass-rush production would spike.

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Grant Cohn
GRANT COHN

Grant Cohn has covered the San Francisco 49ers daily since 2011. He spent the first nine years of his career with the Santa Rosa Press Democrat where he wrote the Inside the 49ers blog and covered famous coaches and athletes such as Jim Harbaugh, Colin Kaepernick and Patrick Willis. In 2012, Inside the 49ers won Sports Blog of the Year from the Peninsula Press Club. In 2020, Cohn joined FanNation and began writing All49ers. In addition, he created a YouTube channel which has become the go-to place on YouTube to consume 49ers content. Cohn's channel typically generates roughly 3.5 million viewers per month, while the 49ers' official YouTube channel generates roughly 1.5 million viewers per month. Cohn live streams almost every day and posts videos hourly during the football season. Cohn is committed to asking the questions that 49ers fans want answered, and providing the most honest and interactive coverage in the country. His loyalty is to the reader and the viewer, not the team or any player or coach. Cohn is a new-age multimedia journalist with an old-school mentality, because his father is Lowell Cohn, the legendary sports columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle from 1979 to 1993. The two have a live podcast every Tuesday. Grant Cohn grew up in Oakland and studied English Literature at UCLA from 2006 to 2010. He currently lives in Oakland with his wife.

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