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Generally when Trent Williams talks in regards to the future, he sounds just a little weary and possibly like he will not be in a 49ers uniform defending the blind facet for very for much longer.
Generally you assume it is a looming emergency for the 49ers they principally are ignoring. Generally you image them with out their future Corridor of Fame left sort out after this season or the one after that, and also you marvel if all the pieces in regards to the 49ers’ offensive line is headed towards a steep precipice. Swiftly.
However then there are occasions like Thursday after apply, when the 37-year-old Williams plopped down in a PR workplace, smiled, chuckled, and gave the impression of he was refreshed sufficient to play one other decade. Effectively, no less than one other a number of years, which is ideal for the 49ers, as a result of Kyle Shanahan instructed me at the beginning of coaching camp that he sees this as 12 months 1 in a brand new three-year aggressive cycle for this franchise.
And I am fairly certain this presumes that No. 71 is prone to be on the market blocking for Brock Purdy and everybody else by means of all of it.
“I like to listen to that,” Williams instructed me on my podcast. “Bodily, I do not really feel totally different. And I do know guys will not even be capable of fathom that till they get round this age. However not solely did I get this age, I form of did issues proper. I really bust my ass each offseason …
“As a result of I put the work in, I can see myself going one other three years — not saying that it will not be any drop off or not saying I will be the identical particular person at present as I shall be in three years. However I can see it. I can fathom it. That actuality does not appear too far-fetched, for my part.”
Williams added that he is really aiming for 5 extra years, to go effectively into his 40s, however mentioned he has to take it yr by yr. He does not wish to play poorly. He desires to be the identical very important a part of the 49ers that he is been since he arrived in a fleecing of a commerce with Washington in 2020. And clearly the 49ers can have a say, too.
Plenty of this, after all, shall be decided by Williams’ well being as he goes by means of this season and past. Whereas holding out for a brand new deal, he missed all of coaching camp final yr however performed the primary 10 video games final season at his regular All-Professional stage. Then Williams suffered his second ankle damage in two seasons and missed the final seven video games, whereas the 49ers’ season burned into bits. Which was the primary time he hasn’t been voted to the Professional Bowl in his 49ers profession. He and his spouse, Sondra, additionally tragically misplaced their son, Trenton Jr., who was stillborn, in November after beforehand dropping his twin earlier in her being pregnant.
This summer season, Williams is again along with his teammates and clearly relishing the camaraderie and work. He positively appears to have misplaced some weight, could be very bouncy whereas blocking, and is flourishing in Shanahan’s accomplished-veteran schedule of two days of apply then at some point off.
And like his teammates, Williams had extra break day after final season as a result of the 49ers had been finished so early — a form of hole yr following the consecutive deep runs into the playoffs after the 2021, 2022, and 2023 seasons.
“I did not use plenty of tread on tires final yr, so to talk,” Williams mentioned. “And coming off of a lot downtime, I needed to hit it laborious this offseason to, form of, you realize, show to myself that I can nonetheless go on the market and do the identical issues that I have been doing, exercise clever. And since I really feel like when you’re capable of do these issues, that’ll most likely carry over to the soccer area.”
‘All people’s form of sleeping on us’
So Williams is getting the very best stage of competitors attainable in his battles with Nick Bosa in apply, watching Mykel Williams and the opposite rookie standouts of their first NFL camps, and again envisioning higher instances for the 49ers after the 6-11 collapse final season.
The entire spiral began when Christian McCaffery surprisingly needed to go on injured reserve hours earlier than the regular-season opener — and the accidents by no means stopped. Which led to all of the frustration and the entire losses. Then at the beginning of the offseason, the 49ers traded away Williams’ good pal Deebo Samuel to the Commanders, traded Jordan Mason to the Vikings, and misplaced Dre Greenlaw, Talanoa Hufanga, Charvarius Ward, Aaron Banks, and Jaylon Moore in free company. Even now, the 49ers are with out Brandon Aiyuk and Malik Mustapha whereas they get well from knee accidents.
So the 49ers are underdogs proper now, and Williams is loving the brand new place for this workforce.
“All people will look and say, ‘Oh, you misplaced this All-Professional, you misplaced that All-Professional, you do not have this particular person, this man, getting older,’ this and that,” Williams mentioned. “However for my part, we’re in the identical boat; now we have all of the expertise.”
Williams went on to counsel it is a favorable place to be in.
“All people’s gonna form of bat a watch at us as a result of we do not have Greenlaw. Deebo is not with us anymore. I am 37. It is plenty of stuff that individuals are going to pull at and say, ‘Oh, I do not assume this may be the identical workforce.’ However truthfully, that is the way you need it, proper? You do not need the bull’s-eye in your again each week you go on the market, all people’s (considering), ‘Oh, right here comes the most effective workforce within the league.’
“So the truth that all people’s form of sleeping on us, the truth that we completed final in our division, so it offers you a positive schedule going ahead, I believe all of that performs into our arms.”
Williams has praised Jed York previously for offering the money it took to assemble and hold this star-studded roster collectively for so long as it lasted. And Williams is not crucial of the 49ers’ cash selections final spring. The savviest gamers principally might see this all coming.
However emotionally, what was it like to look at all of his teammates exit the door?
“Clearly, you by no means wish to see gamers that may contribute to you profitable the championship stroll out the door,” Williams mentioned. “However the enterprise is a enterprise, and it is at all times been that method. Dre Greenlaw is sort of a brother to me. Deebo is sort of a brother to me. I like to see these guys go get the cash they deserve, discover the properties that is mutually agreed upon. … Clearly, you’ll need them to be right here, however … that is simply not the truth of the NFL.”
New faces, identical tradition
Who is aware of how they will all maintain up within the common season — or over a bunch of seasons — however the 49ers’ practices look totally different this summer season as a result of their high 4 draft picks are unimaginable to overlook. Day by day you see one thing dynamic out of Mykel Williams, Alfred Collins, Nick Martin, Upton Stout, or CJ West. Or from a number of of them.
However Williams mentioned the environment across the 49ers is identical as it has been for years — led by a lot of the identical guys. And that the younger gamers are becoming into that spirit.
“I would not say totally different, as a result of, you realize, I believe the tradition has stayed the identical,” Williams mentioned. “The message has stayed the identical. Clearly, we received new blood within the locker room, going straight protection in plenty of within the draft, plenty of these guys are anticipated to assist us from Day 1. So by that, in the end, you get youthful.
“However no, I simply assume, I imply we’re underneath the identical management, the identical captains driving the boat.”
And oh yeah, there’s Purdy, who Williams singled out as a rookie, after Purdy was famously the final choose of the 2022 draft and beat out Nate Sudfeld to turn out to be, at that time, the 49ers’ No. 3 quarterback.
Since then, Purdy’s made the Professional Bowl, received a number of playoff video games, gotten to the Tremendous Bowl, and made performs in a Tremendous Bowl. And some months in the past, Purdy landed a $265-million deal that modified his household’s fortunes for generations and, by the best way, cemented his standing because the 49ers’ most important determine for years to return.
“Each time I take a look at Brock, I simply smile, man, as a result of, like, this was not in his playing cards,” Williams mentioned. “No one would have ever mentioned, ‘Hey, this Mr. Irrelevant goes to be one of many highest paid quarterbacks within the league.’ … However that is why, after I take a look at him, identical to, ‘Rattling, bro, you actually did it. I am uber-proud of you, bro.’…
“Going from there and to now, to the place you are it is like, man, you bought no worries. Now it is time to go, accomplish all of the targets we set out. Now it is time to go be within the operating for NFL MVP. Go win a Tremendous Bowl. Go get Tremendous Bowl MVP — like all of that’s now in entrance of you. Nothing holding it again. No parachutes, no nothing. You’ll be able to go full, full pressure forward.”
