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How the 49ers' Negotiations with Trent Williams Will Play Out

Just remember that the 49ers could have handled this negotiation months ago.

Grant Cohn

Dec 17, 2023; Glendale, Arizona, USA; San Francisco 49ers offensive lineman Trent Williams (71) against the Arizona Cardinals at State Farm Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports
Dec 17, 2023; Glendale, Arizona, USA; San Francisco 49ers offensive lineman Trent Williams (71) against the Arizona Cardinals at State Farm Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports / Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports
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The 49ers and Trent Williams have a little more than a week to reach a deal or he'll miss the first game of the regular season.

Williams presumably wants more guaranteed money and a raise that will make him the highest-paid offensive tackle in the NFL. And the 49ers seem hesitant to give him what he wants, considering the deal still isn't done.

Let's assume Williams wants what the 49ers gave Christian McCaffrey earlier this offseason. They gave McCaffrey a raise and guaranteed money in 2024 and 2025. I'm guessing Williams wants two years of guaranteed money as well. And the 49ers probably would prefer to give him only one year of guaranteed money because he's 36 and could retire next offseason. Hence the current standoff.

But if the recent negotiation with Brandon Aiyuk taught us anything, it's this: The 49ers will cave at the last minute and give their star players everything they want. All Williams has to do is be patient and refuse to budge. That's what Aiyuk just did. It's also what Nick Bosa did Week 1.

We all know the 49ers need Williams to beat the Jets Week 1. They will not play that game without him. So they'll give him exactly what he wants this upcoming week. That's my prediction. They'll cave by the end of the week and he'll be in the Saturday walkthrough two days before the season opener on Monday Night Football.

And when that happens, just remember that the 49ers could have handled this negotiation months ago.

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Grant Cohn

GRANT COHN

Grant Cohn has covered the San Francisco 49ers daily since 2011. He spent the first nine years of his career with the Santa Rosa Press Democrat where he wrote the Inside the 49ers blog and covered famous coaches and athletes such as Jim Harbaugh, Colin Kaepernick and Patrick Willis. In 2012, Inside the 49ers won Sports Blog of the Year from the Peninsula Press Club. In 2020, Cohn joined FanNation and began writing All49ers. In addition, he created a YouTube channel which has become the go-to place on YouTube to consume 49ers content. Cohn's channel typically generates roughly 3.5 million viewers per month, while the 49ers' official YouTube channel generates roughly 1.5 million viewers per month. Cohn live streams almost every day and posts videos hourly during the football season. Cohn is committed to asking the questions that 49ers fans want answered, and providing the most honest and interactive coverage in the country. His loyalty is to the reader and the viewer, not the team or any player or coach. Cohn is a new-age multimedia journalist with an old-school mentality, because his father is Lowell Cohn, the legendary sports columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle from 1979 to 1993. The two have a live podcast every Tuesday. Grant Cohn grew up in Oakland and studied English Literature at UCLA from 2006 to 2010. He currently lives in Oakland with his wife.

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