Williams will fill in for the recently injured Kalia Davis.
The San Francisco 49ers officially announced the signing of defensive lineman Nick Williams to a one-year deal. Williams has been in the league for over a decade. He was drafted by the Pittsburgh Steelers in the seventh round of the 2013 NFL Draft.
During his 11-year career, Williams has bounced around between the Steelers, Kansas City Chiefs, Miami Dolphins, Chicago Bears, Detroit Lions, New York Jets, and the Los Angeles Chargers as recently as 2023.
Williams will attempt to fill the role of Kalia Davis, who looked like a promising player during the 49ers’ first preseason game and somebody who could give the team some much-needed depth throughout the season. Unfortunately, Davis suffered a knee injury that will keep him sidelined through the first half of the season.
The corresponding move was to release linebacker Ezekiel Turner. Turner was signed as a potential special teams ace, but he missed as many tackles as he made during the preseason opener and also allowed his only target to be caught. The need for a linebacker with Dee Winters and Tatum Bethune waiting in the wings wasn’t there, so moving on from Turner made sense.
As for defensive tackle, the 49ers ave Maliek Collins and Javon Hargrave as starters, but after Jordan Elliott—who is primarily a nose tackle, the team will rely on Kevin Givens and T.Y. McGill for depth. Nick Sorensen will almost assuredly use players like Yetur Gross-Matos and Robert Beal Jr. as defensive tackles on obvious passing downs.
