In the end, the 49ers gave Trent Williams everything he wanted. Williams held out all offseason for a new contract because his previous one had zero guaranteed money left on it. Until today, when the 49ers reportedly gave Williams a renegotiated deal.
Williams held out all offseason for a new contract because his previous one had zero guaranteed money left on it. Until today, when the 49ers reportedly gave Williams a renegotiated deal that includes $48 million fully guaranteed and a $25.69 million signing bonus. Which means Williams now has security. So even if he were to suffer a serious injury and miss most of the upcoming season, the 49ers almost certainly would have to keep him for 2025.
It seems clear that the 49ers' first choice was not to give Williams a new contract, considering he had three years left on his old one and the 49ers waited until just one week before the season to redo it. Unfortunately for them, they haven't drafted an offensive tackle since 2021, so they had no choice but to give Williams every penny he asked for. The 49ers have no replacement or heir apparent.
So now the 49ers are at the mercy of a 36-year-old left tackle. And if he were to get injured and retire, the 49ers would take a huge dead cap hit. And although Trent Williams is a future Hall of Famer and one of the greatest left tackles of all time, eventually his game will begin to slip. He won't be the best left tackle in the world forever. And the odds of him being the best left tackle in the NFL at 38 are not great. So the 49ers could find themselves overpaying for an old, injury-prone player in the not-so-distant future.PublishedGrant Cohn has covered the San Francisco 49ers daily since 2011.
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