In the early hours of Wednesday, the San Francisco 49ers came to terms with one of its own: the offensive attack Trent Williams, widely regarded as the crown jewel of this year’s free agency market. The Kansas City Chiefs (and the Chicago Bears) were supposed to be involved until the end.
Trent Williams and the San Francisco 49ers deal is $ 138 million for 6 years.
He is the highest-paid offensive striker in NFL history.
Of the guaranteed $ 55,100,000
$ 30.1 billion is a subscription bonus.
The deal was closed by @elsportsllc@ loyalty24_7– Dianna Russini (@diannaESPN) March 17, 2021
We will probably learn the details of the contract structure sometime on Wednesday, but six years for $ 138 million seems much for a 33-year-old striker when the 2021 season begins. In the end, Williams had bidders – including the Chiefs – and he received the compensation he sought.
What have we learned with the interest of the Chiefs?
Well, first, the obvious – the Chiefs are looking for an initial left tackle on the first day and are not very comfortable with their options currently on the list (Martinas Rankin, Lucas Niang, etc.).
What do they do from here?
In the open market, there are some good, but not elitist, options in the initial tackle, such as ex-Vikings facing Riley Reiff, ex-Steelers facing Alejandro Villanueva or ex-Bears facing Bobby Massie. The Chiefs could call to talk about Orlando Brown, but do we really believe that the Baltimore Ravens will be eager to reinforce what is potentially the biggest hurdle for the AFC in the next decade?
There is also a chance that the team will bring Eric Fisher back for a cheaper price after the market stabilizes, but whether he will be ready to start Week 1 in 2021 is not known at this time. Mitchell Schwartz probably falls into this category if he chooses not to retire.
If none of these options are attractive, the Chiefs could build from the inside out by calling an old friend – the Rodney Hudson center – or the former Patriots center David Andrew (hey, Joe Thuney), going with a draft choice on the left and possibly Niang on the right with some very good veterans to guide them. As another reminder, offensive guard Kyle Long is out of retirement due to visit the chiefs on Wednesday.
The bottom line is that while Williams-Thuney appears to be plan A, Brett Veach’s team will now move on to plan B. We must learn what that is in the next few days – or at this rate, hours.