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The 49ers' Super Bowl Run Depends on Trent Williams' Durability

Since the 49ers traded for Williams in 2020, their record is just 3-6 when he doesn't play.
Grant Cohn|
Feb 11, 2024; Paradise, Nevada, USA; San Francisco 49ers defensive end Trent Williams (71) against
Feb 11, 2024; Paradise, Nevada, USA; San Francisco 49ers defensive end Trent Williams (71) against | Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

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San Francisco 49ers

The 49ers have one of the deepest, most talented rosters in the NFL. And yet their Super Bowl run this year wlll depend largely on the durability of their oldest player -- Trent Williams.

Williams will turn 36 in July. When his predecessor, Joe Staley, was 36, he retired. So Williams is nearing the end of his career. And although he still plays at a high level most of the time, this past Super Bowl notwithstanding, he hasn't played a full season since 2013. Which means you can count on him to miss at least a few games.

Since the 49ers traded for Williams in 2020, their record is just 3-6 when he doesn't play. Last season, he missed two games and the 49ers lost both of them. And that's because he's both their best player and their most valuable player.

When Williams is healthy, no one can beat him one-on-one in pass protection and he's the tip of the spear in the running game. When he's out, the 49ers go from having perhaps the best left tackle in the NFL to maybe the worst one -- Jaylon Moore.

When Moore is the 49ers' left tackle, suddenly their pass protection and run blocking completely break down, and one of the most explosive offenses in the NFL is left completely inert.

Fortunately for the 49ers, Williams never has missed more than three games in a season for them. But he's getting old, and if he misses five or six games this year or, heaven forbid, a playoff game, the 49ers will be in big, big trouble.

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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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