SANTA CLARA, Calif. -- After the San Francisco 49ers traded up into the fourth round of the 2017 NFL draft to select him, the buzz around running back Joe Williams was hard to ignore.

And why wouldn't it be? Williams was coach Kyle Shanahan's hand-picked choice to bolster the Niners' running game and finding unheralded running backs who turn into productive NFL players is as much a Shanahan family tradition as attention-seeking is to the Kardashians. Fantasy analysts began wondering how many carries Williams would steal from Carlos Hyde and whether he'd supplant him at some point in his rookie season.

It didn't take long for that buzz to go away, though. Williams got off to a slow start as he worked on his conditioning. In training camp, he struggled in practice and ended up on injured reserve with an ankle injury. His rookie season was over before it began, and undrafted rookie Matt Breida surged past him on the depth chart.

Now, as the Niners prepare to open their offseason conditioning program next week, Williams has some work to do just to nail down a roster spot in 2018.

"We'll see this year," Shanahan said at the NFL owners meetings. "Joe was a good guy for us last year. I have no problem with the person. He did everything we asked. I expect him to turn up his urgency level this year. I've talked to him about that. He says he has, and I'm looking forward to seeing it."

Williams will rejoin a running backs room that has changed since he last played but also one that offers no shortage of competition. Breida performed well enough as a rookie to continue to have a role in Shanahan's offense, and the Niners signed Jerick McKinnon to a lucrative four-year contract early in free agency. Hyde departed for the Cleveland Browns but the Niners also have special-teams ace Raheem Mostert and practice-squad runner Jeremy McNichols waiting for opportunities.

So what must Williams do to claim a spot and get his chance to get real NFL carries in 2018? It's pretty simple, according to Shanahan.

"He's got to beat guys out, and in order to beat guys out you've got to be better than them," Shanahan said. "You've got to be better than them at running the ball, better than them at protecting, and if you're not, you've got to be better than them at special teams. So you end up keeping three, sometimes four running backs, and it's going to be a fun competition to watch this year."

Although Williams has become sort of the forgotten man in the backfield mix, that doesn't mean the Niners aren't intrigued by his talent. When they drafted him, Williams came with questions about his commitment to the game but none about his ability. Shanahan saw in Williams the type of home run-hitting running back who would be an ideal fit in his outside zone-heavy scheme.

Williams brought with him 4.41 speed in the 40-yard dash and averaged a whopping 6.7 yards per carry at Utah in 2016. If Williams can prove he has the ability to do it in the NFL, he could find a way to complement McKinnon, a player who has been compared to Devonta Freeman, who excelled under Shanahan in Atlanta.

"What is nice that Joe has is, when you do block it right and there's a lane, he's got the burst, the 40 time, the 10 time just coming out of his start, the leg strength to run through arm tackles and hit it and be gone," Shanahan said. "That was very similar to how Tevin Coleman was for us in Atlanta. Totally different than how Devonta was, so there's lots of different ways that guys can play. ... He has that ability to do it. It's about getting him to do it every time."

Last year, Williams did flash some promise in the preseason, averaging 5.2 yards on 25 carries. But he also struggled without the ball in his hands and had ball-security issues. Now healthy and ready for the offseason program, Williams has already talked with Shanahan about what he needs to do in Year 2.

"What I talked about with Joe is, nothing is given here," Shanahan said. "We've got a lot of good backs. ... You have got to have a role on this team, and Joe has the ability to do that. And I hope that he does. But he's going to have some competition this year to do it."