SANTA CLARA, Calif.—All-Pro left tackle Trent Williams on Tuesday ended his contract holdout and reported to the San Francisco 49ers to finalize a new deal that gives him a significant raise and guaranteed money.
“I didn’t think that it would get this drawn out, but it’s a tough business,“ Williams said. ”This was a very intricate contract. I wouldn’t call it a dispute, but restructure. It took time to get to where both sides feel like it’s a win-win.”
The 36-year-old Williams was owed $20.05 million this season under the six-year, $138.1 million deal he signed in 2021 that had no guaranteed money remaining. Williams joins Tristan Wirfs, Penei Sewell, and Christian Darrisaw as NFL tackles getting deals this offseason worth at least $26 million a year.
Williams had been home in Texas for all of training camp while seeking a new deal, accumulating nearly $5.4 million in mandatory fines for missing camp and three preseason games.
“I try not to think about it,” Williams said of the fines. “It’s one of the things where you kind of know you’re going to leverage. ... For lack of a better word, it’s kind of a war, where both sides are going to lose a little blood, but you wave the white flag at the end. We both sign a little peace treaty, and we’re good.”
Williams said it was difficult missing training camp and that the time away from his teammates reinforced that he is still hungry to compete. It also led to some depression as he watched everyone else around the league prepare for the season.
“You think of a kid not being able to go out for recess and having to watch everybody through the window,” he said. “It was some really up-and-down times. There were times where I didn’t know if it was really worth it. I just needed that camaraderie. I wanted to see my boys. I hadn’t seen them in a long time. Obviously, last time we were together, it wasn’t what we wanted it to be.”
The moves mean the Niners will have nearly every significant player from last season’s standout offense back to start the 2024 season. The only players missing who played at least 200 snaps on offense last season are fill-in guard Jon Feliciano, backup tight end Charlie Woerner, and No. 4 receiver Ray-Ray McCloud.
Getting Williams back might have been the most important because he is one of the most irreplaceable pieces on a star-studded roster.
Williams has been widely considered the top offensive linemen in the game in recent years. He has been the All-Pro left tackle the past three seasons and has been a major reason for San Francisco’s offensive success.
Williams said he’s in no rush to end his career and would like to play until he’s 40, pointing to former Rams tackle Andrew Whitworth winning a Super Bowl at age 40 as inspiration.
“I’m going to play as long as I can,” he said. “As long as I feel like I’m a productive player, as long as I feel like I have something to offer, I’m going to want to play football. That’s all I’ve done since the second grade. But Father Time is undefeated from what we’ve seen. Obviously, you can fight him off for a little bit. Going through this process, that was kind of the goal.”
