The 49ers are not the ones to get poached this time
The San Francisco 49ers will not lose Josh Williams to the Jacksonville Jaguars. On Friday, the Jaguars announced they had hired Los Angeles Rams director of scouting James Gladstone as their general manager.
That’s one less poaching to worry about. Yes, this was in the Golden Nuggets this morning, but given how the San Francisco 49ers have been on the receiving end of this year after year, it’s worthwhile to breathe a sigh of relief they didn’t lose another member in 2025.
Every year, the 49ers seem to lose someone significant, be it a coach or front office member, to another NFL team. The most notable recent loss was Adam Peters to the Washington Commanders. This is a testament to the 49ers’ success and the team’s desire to bring some of it into the building.
The fear of losing Williams was real. The Jaguars said he was one of the top finalists for the job. Gladstone was also on there, so there wasn’t a mystery candidate to swoop in. Gladstone will be replacing Trent Baalke, who was relieved in January. Before the Jaguars, Baalke was the general manager of the 49ers. Given Baalke’s departure and Williams, who has been with the 49ers for more than a decade, it’d be rather interesting that Baalke was able to “jam” the 49ers one last time on his way out.
This does put the Rams in a slight bind, though. An NFC West rival to the 49ers, the Rams need to make an internal promotion or find a suitable replacement for Gladstone.
There is one negative to this: no compensatory picks. Had the Jaguars hired Williams, the 49ers would have received a compensatory third-round pick in both the 2025 and 2026 NFL Drafts as part of the league’s initiative aimed at encouraging the aspect hiring of minorities in front offices and coaching staffs.to encourage
On Friday, the 49ers had Brandon Staley depart for the New Orleans Saints as defensive coordinator. That seems to be the only departure of the day.