BOCA RATON, Fla. -- The seeming best (only?) big free-agency move the San Francisco 49ers have made thus far this offseason already has tarnished.
And what had been one of, if not the most powerful three-man defensive lines in the NFL as recently as two seasons ago -- Ray McDonald, Ian Williams, Justin Smith -- suddenly is something short of vacuous.
The revelation emanating from the NFL owners meetings in Boca Raton, Florida, that Williams’ offseason ankle surgeries caused him to fail a physical had ramifications beyond the Niners redoing his five-year, $27.5 million contract into a one-year deal worth up to $6 million with no guaranteed money.
It also put Williams’ availability for the season opener in question. Yes, some six months before the first game. That’s how serious Williams’ procedures were, according to reports, and how long it will take him to fully recover.
So from McDonald-Williams-Smith, the Niners’ front three may look like this come September: second-year player Arik Armstead at left defensive end, Mike Purcell at nose tackle and Quinton Dial at right defensive end.
That’s with Glenn Dorsey, who moved to left defensive end from nose tackle last year, still rehabbing from a torn ACL suffered at Seattle in November, and end Tony Jerod-Eddie a restricted free agent.
Purcell, meanwhile, is the only nose tackle on the roster besides Williams with an NFL snap on his resume, with Kaleb Ramsey and Garrison Smith practice squad refugees.
And entering last season, Armstead, Purcell and Dial had accounted for all of 19 games, with six starts -- and Dial was responsible for 17 of those games and all the starts.
Williams had his first healthy season last year and the 6-foot-1, 305-pounder had his most productive campaign, racking up a career-best 65 tackles with a sack, a forced fumble, a fumble recovery, a pass defensed and a blocked kick in 16 starts.
But that seemed to be the exception rather than the norm, as he played in just four combined games his first two seasons, in 2011 and 2012, with his 2013 season ending with a broken ankle in Week 2 and a broken leg ending his 2014 season after nine games.
The Niners have been linked to Cal quarterback Jared Goff in many mock drafts. But with Williams’ issue, you have to wonder if their focus now is on interior defensive line help with the likes of Louisville’s Sheldon Rankins or Alabama’s A’Shawn Robinson.
Then again, if Dorsey is healthy, maybe they slide him back to nose tackle and go after an edge rusher such as Oregon defensive end DeForest Buckner, who played for new Niners coach Chip Kelly with the Ducks, or Ohio State defensive end Joey Bosa, though both figure to be gone before the Niners select at No. 7 overall.
