Grant Cohn Explains How Long The Trent Williams Hold Out Could Last For The 49ers

[Applause] let's talk about another player with a contract issue ongoing uh Trent Williams uh could the Niners actually play into the regular season without Trent Williams yeah I could see that um he wants more guaranteed money he wants to be the highest paid player in the league this year uh the Niners like to save money where they can um he misses a couple games every year anyway uh is he really ready to play week one in against the Jets I could see the Niners letting this drag on for a few weeks and just taking game checks away from him and uh finally getting it done week two or week three um maybe they'll get it done the next couple weeks but it seems like they got to get the iuk thing done first yeah I know Trump Williams is kind of a special case if you will because I in the past he has for lack of a better term threatened to retire I don't know if he's done this to the ners but I know like with Washington before but I at yeah yes yeah that and that was obviously a very special case but yeah could the Niners potentially mismanage this situation to the point where maybe he just opts to retire yeah I mean if they play hard ball with him it seems like he's kind of telling him like I'm ready I'm I'm uh coming to terms with life after football and it's not so bad I'm playing golf me and Grant H hanging out at Lake shabbo frequently having a great time Grant's a little weird but we're about the same age and you know we can I think I think he's in I think he's sort of got one foot in retirement right now and I think the other foot thinks like look I can show up whenever the hell I want and be the best left tackle football I know I'm 36 but I'm I still can do that like Bo Jackson could do that he played baseball would do no training camp his season would end you know like October and then he would just cruise over to the Raiders no training camp week four and be like Marcus Allen get in the freaking bench I got this like Trent Williams is like that but um eventually he won't be maybe this is the last year where he can just roll out of bed and be the best and then I don't think he'll want to play anymore so I think he's starting to realize that like golf's a lot of fun he's probably gonna be good at that too so now's got to figure out what they're going to do here like you can't just give him three years of guaranteed money because what if he retires next year you're in trouble question so you know you're in the locker room you know more often than I'd say anybody who talks about the team you know typically is I want to know if Trent Williams does just show up and the speculation that he just didn't want to you know participate in training camp is true could that fracture relationships within the locker room isn't that what Nick did last year yeah yeah I think it's business but it's stting to like how many players are going to end up doing this like doesn't that hurt the culture of your team like shouldn't you want to you're a captain you're a captain don't you like want to be there and at least like be in the meetings and lead by example you're the oldest guy there like no so okay so if Trent doesn't have to go to practice then Brandon doesn't have to go to practice then you know it seems like a special privilege that people are like shooting for I don't think that helps but you you always have guys like Debo who are out there grinding Brock got some guys yeah no I I mean I guess the way that I look at it is if you're trying to build a team that can win the Super Bowl how are you going to build the team being you know being so separate you know if you're not practicing together where's that cohesion being built you know so it's a good point yeah U the combo will join us later but we're they're not they're they're still relaxing because it's been a long year yeah yeah I it's probably a little mix of both where it's the player and maybe they just decide like H I'm in this predicament with my contract I'm G to let it play out and also what we talked about earlier of like players seeing past years of Nick Boza even Debo Samuel with his contract before of like they can play out till the final week of the preseason it doesn't matter like the ners will probably get it done so maybe it's the players but I could also see it being where it's the franchise and it's like if you want your guys in there offer him the right deal so yeah simple as that yeah I think I think last year it was uh Chris Jones on the Chiefs who you know didn't play week one and the Chiefs lost to the Detroit Lions week one and then signed I think that was was it Thursday night football Monday Night Football doesn't matter Papa J asks do you think they will sign Williams much faster if the offensive line fails miserably against the Jets yeah you know I think that's a great call like that's exactly what happened with the Chiefs they played one game without Chris Jones Lost and and signed him I I could see Trent Williams doing the same thing like okay you want to play hard ball parag like okay see what happens week one at home Monday Night Football my my phone will be on and next to me as soon as you're ready to talk yeah it might have to be Kyle Shanahan making that call like what are we doing you know before letting TR Trent Williams right off into the sunset I mean let's let's go ahead and move on real cynical for a second though what if the Niners just let all this happen like no Trent Okay no iuk Okay like well we're not gonna have haunga and green law like why why should we rush anyone back if like we're already going to miss like four five of our guys why don't we just like sort of aim to get healthy in October and see if we can tread water like they started two and four in 2021 and three and four in 2022 what if they like just have a mediocre start tread water go real slow with all these guys and hope to like hit their stride mid October and go on a run I mean we've seen them do it before like do you really need Trent Williams out there week one if you're like secretly worried that you're going to lose anyway because you don't have green law haunga auk I I mean is mcaffry gonna play week one we don't even know and how could they possibly win without Ricky peol is my real question I mean God yeah Ricky piol was one of Mike's guys come draft time but obviously you know college versus stepping foot on the NFL field is much different he might be good we don't know he's just hurt [Applause]