Rams Were In On Trent Williams; Latest On Williams’ Contract

Earlier today the Trent Williams saga finally came to an end, when the Redskins traded the left tackle to the 49ers. Right at the end we heard the Rams could emerge as a suitor, and apparently Los Angeles did in fact kick the tires.

The Rams, who currently have 38-year-old Andrew Whitworth at left tackle and Rob Havenstein at right tackle, were in the race, and head coach Sean McVay “dabbled” with reuniting with Williams as a guard, Mike Garafolo of NFL Network tweets. McVay previously coached Williams when he was Washington’s offensive coordinator. McVay didn’t sound too happy about losing out to his division rival, saying, “thanks for reminding me. I need to go drink a couple of more beers,” when asked about the deal, via Andrew Siciliano of NFL Network (Twitter link).

A proposed trade to the Vikings apparently would’ve come with an extension, but Williams torpedoed that deal earlier this morning. Now, it doesn’t sound like he’s getting an extension anytime soon. 49ers GM John Lynch said the team will let 2020 play out “and see what happens after the season,” per Matt Maiocco of NBC Sports (Twitter link). Indeed, head coach Kyle Shanahan said that Williams himself made it clear that he wanted to wait on an extension and to earn a new, lucrative pact.

“Trent has been out of football for a year and a half, and Trent made it clear to everyone he wants to come back and didn’t want to do a deal right away,” Shanahan said (via Nick Wagoner of ESPN.com). “He wanted to play and try to get back into it and see where he was at with the rest of the league and pick up where he left off.”

Of course, that’s quite a contrast from earlier reports suggesting that Williams not only wanted out of Washington, he also wanted a brand new contract that puts him at the top of the LT market. But perhaps the opportunity to leave the Redskins and to get a fresh start with the defending NFC champs mitigated his financial demands for the time being.

Williams sat out all of last season due to his dispute with the Redskins, but before that he was one of the league’s best tackles. He’ll slide in as an excellent replacement for Joe Staley, who elected to hang up his cleats earlier today.

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