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Will 49ers LT Trent Williams Win NFL's Protector of the Year Award?

Trent Williams could add a new trophy to his trophy case in a few months.
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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San Francisco 49ers

Trent Williams could add a new trophy to his trophy case in a few months.

That's because the NFL just created a new award to honor the best offensive lineman, and it's called the Protector of the Year. According to CBS Sports, Trent Williams is the second-most likely offensive lineman to win the award next season.

"The longtime left tackle is no spring chicken going on 37, and he missed extensive time in 2024," writes CBS Sports' Cody Benjamin. "When healthy and motivated, however, Williams is maybe the NFL's top wrecking ball of a bookend. If Brock Purdy, Christian McCaffrey and Co. also stay on the field, he should remain a catalyst for their attack."

Benjamin is correct that Williams will be a prime candidate to win this award if he stays healthy and the 49ers make the playoffs. But Williams hasn't played a full season since 2013. And at his age, it's hard to expect him to play more than 14 games. Realistically, anything he gives the 49ers next season would be a bonus.

Williams seems to have chronic ankle injuries. He has missed at least one game with an ankle injury every season since 2020, and last season he missed the final seven. It's unclear if he would have been healthy enough to return for the playoffs had the 49ers made it that far.

We'll learn more about Williams when OTAs start next week. According to the team, he showed up to Phase 1, although the 49ers didn't release any pictures of him with the team. Williams hasn't spoken or posted on social media since his injury in October.

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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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