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PFF Ranks 49ers LT Trent Williams the NFL's 98th Best Player of 2024

Williams is signed through 2026. In the final season of his contract, he will take up a whopping 13.6 percent of the 49ers cap space. They need him on the field.
Grant Cohn|
Oct 6, 2024; Santa Clara, California, USA; San Francisco 49ers offensive tackle Trent Williams (71) before the game against the Arizona Cardinals at Levi's Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images
Oct 6, 2024; Santa Clara, California, USA; San Francisco 49ers offensive tackle Trent Williams (71) before the game against the Arizona Cardinals at Levi's Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images | Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images

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San Francisco 49ers

The biggest enigma on the 49ers is their future Hall of Fame left tackle Trent Williams.

When healthy, he's still one of the best players in the NFL. But he missed the final seven games of last season with a bruised ankle and he will turn 37 in July. So it's hard to predict how many games Williams will play in the future. He hasn't played a full season since 2013.

His lack of durability is a big reason Pro Football Focus ranked him just the 98th best player in the NFL in 2024.

"While Jaylon Moore filled in admirably for Williams after the perennial All-Pro went down in Week 11, it’s difficult to fully replace his impact," writes PFF analyst Mason Cameron. "Prior to his injury, Williams’ 86.6 PFF overall grade ranked sixth among tackles and placed him within reach of cementing his fifth consecutive season surpassing the 90.0 grading threshold."

At this point in Williams' career, he doesn't have much to play for. He already has a Hall of Fame resume and he won't get another contract because he's almost 40 years old.

So if the 49ers aren't legitimate Super Bowl contenders, he might not see the point of playing anymore. He doesn't even much during the season. And he's still great, which is incredibly impressive, but you have to wonder how much he still loves football. Is there part of him that would rather spend his days on the golf course?

Williams is signed through 2026. In the final season of his contract, he will take up a whopping 13.6 percent of the 49ers cap space. They need him on the field.

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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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