Trent Williams declares 49ers rookie a steal before he's even played a regular-season game

Trent Williams kept track of the progress of the San Francisco 49ers' rookie class during his contract holdout.

And the All-Pro left tackle had warm words of praise for one member with whom he will soon be sharing the trenches.

Third-round pick Dominick Puni enjoyed an excellent training camp and preseason, stepping up and making the starting rigut guard job his own as Jon Feliciano and Spencer Burford dealt with injuries.

Puni still has to prove himself in a regular-season game but, speaking after returning to practice on Tuesday having agreed a reworked deal with the 49ers to end his holdout, Williams felt comfortable attaching an eye-catching tag to San Francisco's newest starter up front.

"Puni coming in and playing the way he played in those preseason games and his poise and just looking like he's been there before," Williams said when asked for his thoughts on the draft class.

"I was looking at that guy like 'man he looks like he could contribute day one'. He's such a steal, such a good find."

Williams wasn't just impressed by Puni, however, with a trio of other rookies receiving his plaudits.

"The safety, Malik Mustapha, he was fun to watch," Williams added. "Watching him come downhill and bring that hat and just play with that tenacity that you see the 49ers defense plays with, that's the reason why we've gone so far in recent years.

"Seeing the other rookie receiver [Jacob] Cowing, I thought he looked electric when he got his opportunities.

"Felt like the running back [Isaac Guerendo] was a pretty good add. It's funny how Kyle just keeps finding all these guys. You think they come out of nowhere but these guys get in they looked they could contribute day one.

"As a rookie that's an extremely hard thing to do, especially in today's world where it's a microwave league, we want to see somebody be good the second they step in the door."

Though the the 49ers couldn't keep sixth-round guard Jarrett Kingston after making an ill-advised decision to waive him following a strong preseason, San Francisco's rookie class looks excellently placed to respond to the pressure of the "microwave league" and make an instant impression.

While Williams is confident he can play into his 40s, the reality for the 49ers is they needed to find some younger contributors to maximize their chances of staying at the top of the NFC long term. With this draft class, they appear to have done just that.

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