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Is 49ers LT Trent Williams Still the NFL's Best Offensive Tackle?

The 49ers could have drafted Sewell in 2021 but took Trey Lance instead.

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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Trent Williams is the 49ers' best player, but is he still the best left tackle in the NFL.

CBS Sports believes he is and has the advanced stats to support their ranking:

"Williams' throne as the best tackle in the game is getting challenged, yet he's still at the top heading into 2024. A First-Team All-Pro for the third consecutive year, Williams didn't allow a sack in 413 pass-blocking snaps last season. He allowed just 18 pressures and a pressure rate allowed per dropback of 4.4%. Going up against Micah Parsons, Josh Allen, and Myles Garrett last year -- Williams remained unscathed. He's made 11 of the past 12 Pro Bowls for a reason, while also remaining one of the game's dominant run blockers. Williams is still the best tackle at 35, but there's legitimate competition for that top spot coming."

- Jeff Kerr, CBS Sports Analyst

The no. 1 contender to replace Williams as the NFL's top offensive tackle is Detroit Lions right tackle Penei Sewell. You could even make the argument that Sewell has passed Williams already.

Williams will turn 36 on July 19. Sewell is still 23. Williams misses at least two games every season. Sewell has missed just one game in his three-year career. And While Williams gave up zero sacks last season, he played just 413 pass-blocking snaps because the 49ers rarely pass the ball. As opposed to Sewell who played a whopping 643 pass-blocking snaps and gave up just one sack in 2023.

If Sewell played left tackle instead of right tackle, I'm guessing he'd be considered the best OT in football right now. Which is silly, because right tackle has become just as important as left tackle in the modern NFL.

The 49ers could have drafted Sewell in 2021 but took Trey Lance instead.

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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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