ESPN’s Dan Graziano spent a day at the San Francisco 49ers’ training camp and spoke to Trent Williams after practice. Williams explained how last year’s success injected even more confidence into the locker room:
“I think that year did so much good for us, just in the belief and the culture and in the locker room. Because that’s what won games, was the culture. It wasn’t the players. For so long we’ve heard, ‘Aw, y’all got seven All-Pros, seven Pro Bowlers, that’s why y’all win.’ And then we do without all those guys, and we still find ways to beat really good teams and work our way into a playoff win. And yeah, once [George] Kittle was out, it was pretty much curtains, but what is there not to believe in?”
If the report about Kittle returning as soon as Week 1 is accurate, confidence should be sky-high heading into the season. It seems as though the 49ers are being overly cautious with their injured core players, like Christian McCaffrey, Nick Bosa, and Mike Evans. The latter two missed all of last week.
Speaking of Evans, that’s who Williams believes will be the biggest benefactor on offense:
“I think Mike Evans is going to be the biggest benefactor for us. Just because you can’t have your safeties keyed in on filling the gaps. Because you can’t leave him 50-50, you can’t leave him one-on-one. And that’s the one thing that this offense in my opinion didn’t do as much, was attack downfield. Now, with the receiver room we have, and having the threats we have, I don’t know if you can just have everybody zero in on Christian [McCaffrey].
[Evans] is a guy that, you basically have to play him with two. He’s going to occupy two sets of eyes, 50-50 balls aren’t really 50-50. And he’s a deep threat, he’s always been that. Just one of the more dynamic receivers in the league.”
Last year, teams had their safeties inching closer and closer to the line of scrimmage, without fear of the Niners’ perimeter threats running by them. It shrunk the field and made life a living hell for McCaffrey, both on the ground and in the running game.
The 49ers didn’t have a receiver who could consistently win on isolation routes last year. It’s a different story heading into 2026. And Evans isn’t the only one who has that skill set, either.
Williams, like just about everybody else, has been in awe of rookie wide receiver De’Zhaun Stribling:
“He’s going to be a player. I promise you that. He’s like Jauan [Jennings], same body type, but he runs 4.3. And his 4.3 speed shows in the game. His acceleration, it shows every time he touches the ball. And I think he’s going to be a guy who, early, he’ll get off fast when people aren’t planning on stopping him and stuff, and then once he’s jotted down as a real threat, then it opens up everything else, too.”
Stribling is playing the same position as Jennings, but the usage isn’t similar at all. A couple of times a week, we’re hearing about how Stribling got behind the defense for a long touchdown. I’m not sure if that ever happened with Jennings during camp.
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