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Kyle Shanahan Says Trent Williams was "Decent" in 49ers' Loss to Vikings

Currently, he's 36 and struggling. I bet the 49ers wish they hadn't redone his deal a few weeks ago.

Grant Cohn

Sep 9, 2024; Santa Clara, California, USA; San Francisco 49ers offensive tackle Trent Williams (71) is introduced before the game against the New York Jets at Levi's Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images
Sep 9, 2024; Santa Clara, California, USA; San Francisco 49ers offensive tackle Trent Williams (71) is introduced before the game against the New York Jets at Levi's Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images / Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images
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By all acconts, Trent Williams did not play well during the 49ers' 23-17 loss to the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday.

According to Pro Football Focus, Williams allowed four pressures, two quarterback hurries, one quarterback hit and one sack. That would be a subpar performance for any starting offensive lineman. But for a future first ballot Hall of Famer such as Trent Williams, it's embarrassing.

Surely Williams struggled because he missed all of training camp and still is rusty and out of football shape right?

I asked Kyle Shanahan that question on Monday. Here's what Shanahan said.

Q: Did the time off that T Trent Williams took this offseason affect him in this game?

SHANAHAN: “I don’t know how to totally answer that. I think Trent played decent. There's definitely things he'd like to have back, but I didn't see him get tired or fatigued or anything like that. I don't really relate anything to that. It was just about the game yesterday.”

Shanahan didn't seem to think is answer through. If Williams' poor performance isn't a result of rust and time off, then it must be a result of age, right? It seems like Shanahan is implying that Williams had no excuse to not be dominant. He just held out all offseason because he was offended that he no longer is the highest-paid offensive lineman in the NFL. He's adamant that he can be the best left tackle in football even when he's 38.

Currently, he's 36 and struggling. I bet the 49ers wish they hadn't redone his deal a few weeks 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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