The 49ers have re-signed Trent Williams to a six-year, $138.06MM deal (Twitter link via NFL.com’s Tom Pelissero). The deal comes with $55.1MM guaranteed and a $30.1MM signing bonus and makes Williams the highest-paid offensive lineman. 
The Chiefs, Colts, and Bears all wanted Williams, but the incumbents won out. There were, at least, consolation prizes for the Chiefs and Bears — Kansas City landed top guard Joe Thuney while the Bears allocated their dollars towards quarterback Andy Dalton and a new deal for (not-as-impressive) tackle Germain Ifedi.
The 32-year-old blocker graded as Pro Football Focus’ No. 1 overall tackle last year after sitting out the entire 2019 season. He’ll turn 33 in July, but he was widely regarded as the best available free agent in this year’s class, regardless of position.
The current rate for top offensive tackles is around $22MM per year. Despite his age, Williams has topped that with an average annual value of $23MM. Previously, the watermark was held by Packers lineman David Bakhtiari, who inked a four-year, $92 million extension back in November. He could have gotten those dollars anywhere, but Williams has said all along that he’d like to play out the rest of his career in San Francisco.
“San Francisco would be the leading candidate regardless,” Williams said earlier this year. “So even if it does make it to free agency, it won’t be because I’m trying to go somewhere else. It may be simply because I want to see my value. It’s been 11 years in this league, and I have yet to see a franchise left tackle go to the open market. I think it would be interesting to kind of see what [my] value holds.”
Williams’ value is mostly predicated on his world-class performance, but it was also lifted by the lack of quality offensive linemen available in this year’s class. Rather than reaching for subpar protection, the Niners shelled out the big bucks for one of the best tackles in the business.
I haven’t seen a 30+ o-lineman get payed that much in a while
You’ve literally never seen any lineman get paid more.
i meant close
Yes dude this one’s a big mistake bro.
No, and don’t just let the numbers confuse you, Paraag Marathe does the 49ers contracts, and rarely do they ever really get stuck with an albatross…
How? He was the best tackle in football last year. They’ll get 3 or so years of stellar production and then restructure him like every other player in the league, if not before then. The only number in an NFL contract that means anything is the guaranteed money amount, and even then that number can get changed.
The rich get richer
Boo f’ing hoo
The Bears on the way to a top 5 pick next year with that road schedule and 2 terrible QB’s in Dalton and Foles
This deal will sink what Sanfransico can do as a franchise the next 6 yrs unless they rework his contract every yr but whyy thoo.. Im not a big fan paying lineman huge money past 32 for long yrs bc by the time you hit 32 age kicks in and you slow down unless your Jeff Saturday lol
Haha Jeff Saturday was the man!!
Is this the first NFL contract you’ve ever seen? They’re restructured and changed constantly. A ton of his guaranteed money is as a bonus and everything else will get moved and/or spread out.
This contract is not going to sink anything. This isn’t baseball or basketball. Only a fraction of this money is guaranteed. They won’t pay him anywhere near $138 million.
…and if they somehow DO pay it all, it would mean all that juice continued to be worth it.
The deal is mint what it seems. That’s why they gave him $55 mil guaranteed BUT $30 of it is a signing bonus. His contract-from what I’ve read-is similar to that of Jimmy G’s. So they could ultimately cut him down the road and have little dead money.
*isn’t not “is mint”
Probably not “little” dead money, but a cut nonetheless after 2 years.
It doesn’t say that, it says 55million guaranteed AND a 30 mil singing bonus =85mil
A lot of money for a Linemen but I’ll take it
Paying a 33 year old tackle QB money? Keep telling is how great Shanahan and Lynch is lol.