The San Francisco 49ers brass seem confident that they’ll work out a deal with left tackle Trent Williams, ensuring that he remains in the Bay Area for a couple of more seasons.
Williams’ current deal has a base salary of $32.2 million in 2026. There are no remaining guarantees, which is why Williams is seeking a new contract. If the 49ers were comfortable giving Williams that amount, he’d have a new deal by now. But Williams’ age appears to be the reason for the holdup.
According to one report, the
two sides could strike a deal “early this week, depending on how comfortable the player is with the latest proposal. Should the sides not make the headway over the coming days, there is potential for this to get sideways.”
The last thing the 49ers want is for Williams to rebuke their offer, and the Niners have a gaping hole at left tackle heading into the NFL Draft. Sure, they could find a way to replace Williams. That could be in the draft or sign a free agent like Taylor Decker. But the intangibles and leadership Williams brings to the table make him irreplaceable, even as he gets ready to turn 38 in July.
The 49ers are willing to make Williams the 7th-highest-paid left tackle based on the annual average, per this report:
The 49ers are willing to pay Williams basically $36M guaranteed over the next two years, with about $24M to be paid to him in 2026.
That $24M salary for next season would still put him in the top 10 among offensive linemen, though one could certainly argue that Williams is still a top three tackle in the league. The closer we get to the start of the regular season, the more the 49ers could reasonably conclude that opposing teams will have less appetite to take on a massive salary and thus perhaps the threat of cutting him could result in Williams opting to take what’s on the table.
Then again, it only takes one team to be willing to pay a little bit more, for Williams to make out. The 49ers would also make the case that, at this stage of his career, they offer as good a chance as any team to win a title.
Williams is currently third overall in average. So, he’d take a slight dip. But then you realize most of the players are 10 years younger than him, so it shouldn’t be seen as a slight in Williams’ eyes.
I’d be curious to know what any potential deadlines would be for Williams if both sides can’t agree on something before the draft. The closer we get to training camp, the more of a distraction it would become, especially if this turns into Williams holding out. The last thing Kyle Shanahan would want is to be bombarded with the same question every other day in August.
The best-case scenario is that both sides work something out ahead of the draft, and we don’t have to speculate about any draft-day trade, or whether the selection of an offensive lineman means that’s the end of the road for Williams time as a member of the 49ers.
