NFL analyst projects 49ers edge rusher to win major NFL award in 2025

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The San Francisco 49ers have been at their best, in recent years, when they have a dominant pass rush, and in 2024, they recorded sacks on just 6.69% of opposing quarterback dropbacks, ranking 18th in the NFL last year.

This offseason, San Francisco made some moves to their defensive front, including watching Leonard Floyd (8.5 sacks in 2024) and Dre Greenlaw (120 tackles in 2023 before injury) sign with the Atlanta Falcons and Denver Broncos, respectively, while allowing De'Vondre Campbell, Khalil Davis, Drake Jackson and Alex Barrett to remain unsigned over two months into the start of the new league year.

The 49ers made just one veteran addition to their front, signing Luke Gifford, who played 19.2% of the defensive snaps for the Tennessee Titans last season.

San Francisco's biggest swing at improving their pass-rush in recent months came in the 2025 NFL draft when they used their first-round pick (No. 11 overall) on Mykel Williams. Now, ESPN's Ben Solak has predicted Williams will take home the Defensive Rookie of the Year Award in 2025.

"Mykel Williams will win Defensive Rookie of the Year," Solak wrote. "If the 49ers unleash him as a pass rusher in a way that Georgia never did -- and if his left ankle is healthy -- he has a great pass-rush profile for early success. He'll also rarely see double teams opposite Nick Bosa. A 10-plus-sack season is well within the cards."

Williams, 20, was a five-star recruit out of Hardaway High School in Columbus, Georgia, prior to joining the Georgia Bulldogs. Over the last three years, he won a national championship and earned second-team All-SEC honors twice while recording 67 tackles (23 for a loss), 14 sacks, four passes defensed, three forced fumbles and one fumble recovery in 40 games.

There's a chance that Williams steps into the role on the other side of Bosa and finishes with more sacks than he did in any single season at Georgia (five sacks in 2024 was his career-high). If he does that, he'll have a chance to run away with this award that gone to a pass rusher in five of the last six years (Sauce Gardner winning in 2022 is the lone exception).

More 49ers: 49ers rookie draws mixed reviews from college coaches

This article originally appeared on Niners Wire: 49ers Mykel Williams projected to win Defensive Rookie of the Year



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