The San Francisco 49ers will once again have a very close eye on the happenings in the Jacksonville Jaguars’ offseason.
Jacksonville on Saturday announced 49ers director of scouting and operations Josh Williams was one of five general manager candidates to move on to the in-person interview portion of their GM search.
Williams joins Ian Cunningham, James Gladstone, Jon-Eric Sullivan and Ethan Waugh in the group receiving in-person interviews per the team’s announcement.
This is something the 49ers will be watching closely for a couple of reasons.
First, Williams has been with the club for 14 years and his worked his way into a prominent position after beginning as an assistant in the scouting department in 2011. Replacing him in the front office wouldn’t be easy for general manager John Lynch.
Second, Williams is a minority candidate who would fetch the 49ers a pair of third-round compensatory picks in the 2025 and 2026 drafts per the NFL’s expanded Rooney Rule.
The 49ers stacked a ton of third-round picks over the first few years after the NFL’s adoption of the minority hiring incentives. They got third-round picks for Martin Mayhew and Ran Carthon landing GM jobs. They also got them for Robert Saleh, DeMeco Ryans and Mike McDaniel getting head coaching spots.
They didn’t stack additional picks last offseason, but Williams’ opportunity to climb up the NFL’s front office ladder would mean a new pair of additional thirds for San Francisco that begin in this year’s draft. Another third this year would give them three in the third round and 11 overall.
This is the second time this offseason the 49ers are having to focus on the Jags moves. They also kept close watch on Jacksonville’s search for a head coach thanks to Robert Saleh’s involvement. San Francisco needed to wait and ensure Saleh wouldn’t get the head coaching gig there before they could hire him as defensive coordinator.
While the Williams loss wouldn’t be as immediately impactful as missing out on Saleh would’ve been, it would still be a significant hole in the scouting department for the 49ers to fill.