The San Francisco 49ers surprised a lot of people in the football world when they worked out a deal with star wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk last week, putting him on track to return to the lineup for Week 1 after a length hold-in all offseason.
Rumors swirled that Aiyuk’s time with the franchise would be coming to an end, but he ended up agreeing to a four-year extension. Now, all of the attention will turn to his teammate, Trent Williams.
The star left tackle has been holding out as well in hopes of landing a new long-term extension himself. On Tuesday morning, his holdout ended as well.
A deal is being finalized by the two sides that will end the contract dispute and put him on track to play against the New York Jets in the season opener on Monday Night Football.
Williams has racked up $4 million in fines, opting to sit out the entire training camp for missing practice and preseason games. He was working out on his own, but will now be returning to the team just in time for the regular season.
He was originally set to earn $20.08 million from the contract extension that he signed in 2021 worth $138.1 million.
That ranked sixth among offensive tackles in the NFL. Widely considered the best left tackle in the game, it did make some sense that Williams was seeking an adjustment to his contract to be near or at the top of the list once again.
Nick Wagoner of ESPN shared some statistics that back up the claim of the 49ers star being the best.
“Williams ranked as the best pass blocking tackle in the NFL in 2023, with a 95.8% pass block win rate. The Niners averaged 6.05 yards per carry when rushing behind Williams to the left side last season, while averaging 4.45 yards per attempt on all other rushing attempts.”
Despite some fans getting antsy about Williams’ availability, the team’s confidence in his reporting never wavered. The San Francisco 49ers have shown they are willing to compensate their players fairly, it just happens sometimes at a slower pace than people outside of the organization like to see.
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