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Will Trent Williams Return to the 49ers This Week?

I'm gessing Williams won't be on the field this Tuesday.

Grant Cohn

Nov 23, 2023; Seattle, Washington, USA; San Francisco 49ers offensive tackle Trent Williams (71) waves goodbye to Seattle Seahawks fans during the fourth quarter at Lumen Field. Mandatory Credit: Joe Nicholson-USA TODAY Sports
Nov 23, 2023; Seattle, Washington, USA; San Francisco 49ers offensive tackle Trent Williams (71) waves goodbye to Seattle Seahawks fans during the fourth quarter at Lumen Field. Mandatory Credit: Joe Nicholson-USA TODAY Sports / Joe Nicholson-USA TODAY Sports
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The 49ers play their first game of the season in seven days and Trent Williams still isn't here.

He's holding out for a new contract and reportedly is willing to miss games and even retire if the 49ers don't meet his demands. And they haven't met them yet.

I'm guessing Williams wants a raise and more guaranteed money this year and next. And I'm guessing the 49ers eventually will give him what he wants just as they eventually gave Brandon Aiyuk what he wanted. So the question for the 49ers is when exactly will they fold?

This week, they will practice on Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, and they'll have a walkthrough on Saturday. Ideally, Williams would be on the field this Tuesday to give him almost a full week to prepare to play a full game.

But I'm gessing Williams won't be on the field this Tuesday.

Even if Williams were happy with his contract, he probably wouldn't practice until Friday. That's the norm for him. He's 36, so he generally practices just one day a week, and it's usually Thursday if the game is on Sunday.

But the 49ers play their season opener on Monday Night this season. So I'm guessing the 49ers would like to get him back by Friday at the latest.

They should know that even with Brandon Aiyuk, they could lose to the Jets if they don't have Trent Williams. And I'm guessing the 49ers really don't want to lose their home opener to Robert Saleh's team. So I expect they'll move heaven and earth to bring Williams back by Friday.

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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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