49ers get exactly the reinforcement they need with return of 2025 first-round pick

SANTA CLARA — Just like Fred Warner and so many other 49ers defenders, all Mykel Williams could do was watch as his rookie season came to an unsatisfying end this past January.The former 11th overall pick has been unable to help this season, stuck on the Physically Unable to Perform list even as he has painfully close to the designation no longer applying.“I’m going crazy.I’m losing my mind,” Williams said this week.

“I’m ready to go.I miss playing ball.

It’s been like damn near a year.… Knowing how banged-up we are, it’s just been killing me watching it transpire how it has been.

I’m ready to get back on the field.”There is still no official word from the 49ers on Williams’ status for the rematch of their 41-6 divisional round loss in Seattle.They opened his practice window last week and will be eligible to activate him from the PUP list for the first time this week, though it’s not required.But the first-round defensive lineman kind of said the quiet part out loud when he was asked about how his offseason diet, training and rehab regimen would translate on the field.“We’ll see Sunday,” he said.

“We’ll see Sunday.”Forget any gamesmanship that might have been thrown out the door.That should be music to the ears of the 49ers and their Faithful.No, they still won’t have Nick Bosa for at least another week.But getting No.98 back is the next-best thing to No.

97.The 49ers never really got to experience the full package of what made Williams a consensus first-rounder coming out of Georgia before he tore his ACL in Week 9.He shared the field with Bosa for only three games, which accounted for 25% of the 49ers’ season sack total.He’s never gotten a chance to play for Raheem Morris.

But the 49ers defensive coordinator became plenty familiar with him as a draft prospect when he was head coach of the Falcons.Morris saw exactly why Williams could be so valuable in this moment for the undermanned Niners front.“He can play an...