Draft Day 1 Recap: Mykel Williams Joins the 49ers | 1st & 10

The San Francisco 49ers added Georgia defensive lineman Mykel Williams with the 11th-overall pick in the 2025 NFL Draft — get the inside scoop on how it happened and what it means for the team.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:05):
The Faithful Welcome Back to the forty nine Ers First
and ten podcast presented by Cisco And with the eleventh
pick in the twenty twenty five NFL Draft, the San
Francisco forty nine Ers have selected Mikel Williams, a defensive
lineman out of the University of Georgia. Lindsay, what do
you think of this first pick?

Speaker 2 (00:22):
I think this is exactly who the forty nine ers wanted,
even though they didn't want to show their hand too
much throughout this pre draft process, but nothing but high
praise from both general manager John Lynch, head coach Kyle Shanahan,
also defensive line coach Chris Kosk. He called him the
best edge setter in college football, so I don't really

(00:42):
think it gets much better than that. I also had
the opportunity to talk to Lynch. He said that in
addition to being this athletic defensive lineman that has great arms,
the body that you want, he's a great character and
culture fit for the forty nine ers, and that was
what he talked about at length. I think one of
the better stories to come out of their press availability

(01:04):
is that they wanted Mikel Williams. They tried to trade
up for him a failed attempt. Okay, So I think
the emotions were high in that war room, a little
bit of nervous energy. It ended up working out. He
fell to number eleven. He was their top priority on
day one, and they were very relieved, very excited to
be able to get him.

Speaker 1 (01:24):
Yeah, it sounds like a win win for the Niners
draft room. They kept their stock and they got their guy.
A few numbers on Williams, he stands at sixty five
two sixty pounds. In college, he racked up sixty seven
tackles twenty one and a half tackles for loss, fourteen sacks.
He also had a very impressive pro day, turning a
lot of heads there. He's a chess piece along the

(01:45):
D line that he serves a lot of versatility for
Robert Salah in the Red and Gold defense. He's played
all along the line, but he's likely going to be
used at edge rusher, right, What would that rotation look
like when he comes in to maybe start in twenty
twenty five.

Speaker 2 (01:59):
I think the traits on the field that they really
liked about him is what you mentioned, that versatility. But
I think they're envisioning and I say I think because
I heard John Lynch say it, He's going to be
the bookend to Nick Bosa if it all works out
exactly how they want it to. But he does have
that versatility similar to you tour gross Matos where he
can play both inside and outside, so again a chess piece.

(02:22):
Like you said, he has experienced playing at multiple positions
at Georgia, so I think, all in all are really
really good pick up for them.

Speaker 1 (02:29):
Awesome, And he also had a moment with local media
here in the Bay Area just how excited was he
to join the Niners.

Speaker 2 (02:36):
So excited. So another thing about Williams, he was one
of the players that came to Santa Clara for a
Top thirty visit. He said that it wasn't just one
person or one player that he really connected with while
being here at Levi Stadium. He built a really good
connection with the coaching staff here and really the entire organization.
He said that it was between him and another player

(02:58):
that he thought would get drafted by the Niners in
that first round. He was so happy to have been
the one that got the call. And I think the
best moment of his availability was someone asked him, you know,
how do you feel about playing with Nick Bosa. His
response was, I can't wait to learn from him, and
I have so many questions, And I think the questions part.
We've heard that from rookies as they get selected by

(03:21):
the Niners over the years.

Speaker 1 (03:22):
Yeah, awesome. We also saw Malec Mustafa took to Twitter
right when we made the pick and he said, you
was super excited for Mikel Williams to join the group.
What did you hear from John Lynch? You had a
moment with him where you could read cap day one
of the draft. Did he share any insight with you?

Speaker 2 (03:37):
You know, kind of just what I said. And in
addition to everything he's shown on the field, it really
is a big thing to be a culture fit here.
And it's from academic advisors, his coaches, scouts all positive
reports on Mikel Williams. Actually thought that it was really interesting.
They did not reach out or Lynch did not reach
out personally to Kirby Smart, who's a head coach at

(03:59):
the univer of Georgia, because this entire draft process is
a little bit of slew thing. You want to keep
things close to the chest. It's all kind of a
game to make sure that other teams don't know who
you're interested in. So yes, they hosted in for a
Top thirty visit. But you don't want to ask too
many questions because then people can kind of catch on

(04:20):
to what you might do in the first round. So
it was a stealthy play by the forty nine ers
and it did in fact work out.

Speaker 1 (04:26):
Yeah, you try to keep your cards close to your chest,
especially we're talking about Day one of the draft, and
another side update for the San Francisco forty nine ers, Faithful,
The twenty twenty five schedule will be announced on May fourteenth.
It'll be a Wednesday on NFL Network, so we can
get to see which games mikel will be playing in
in twenty twenty five. But Faithful, stay tuned. We've got

(04:48):
three more picks coming up in Day two. Subscribe to YouTube,
Apple Podcasts, and Spotify for more draft coverage coming to
you real soon.