© Joe Camporeale | 2019 Nov 9
It could be a few months from now. Maybe it takes a year, or longer than that. But the Trent Williams trade may well be remembered as one of the extraordinary coups in recent NFL history. A Super Bowl win would certainly affirm that, but that might not even be a necessary achievement if Williams is anything like he was before he sat out the 2019 season.
The 49ers will either re-sign Williams after this season, or they’ll lose him and likely be recouped with a 2022 third-round draft pick, meaning they effectively traded a fifth-rounder and pushed back their 2021 third a single year.
It was among the three defining moves that general manager John Lynch and the San Francisco 49ers made over a three-day span in the 2020 NFL Draft, all through a well-executed process of obfuscating their intentions, coupled with a healthy amount of luck:
- Traded down one spot to draft a one-for-one DeForest Buckner replacement in Javon Kinlaw, who will cost about $20-plus million less this season than Buckner
- Traded up five spots to draft a one-for-one Emmanuel Sanders replacement in Brandon Aiyuk, who will cost about $2 million less this season than Sanders, and is exactly 11 years younger. Sanders, age 33, and Aiyuk, age 22, share March 17 as their birthday.
- Replaced an all-time tackle in Joe Staley with another one in Trent Williams, who is three years younger, having rested a full season, and who cost a 2020 fifth-round pick and a 2021 third-round pick.
Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer spoke to Lynch about the entire draft and trade process, revealing just how precarious all the moves, especially the final one, were. Just as Lynch explained in his post-draft press conference, the move of acquiring Williams continued to be pushed back. The Redskins’ Ron Rivera was rightfully patient in parting with an All-Pro caliber player at a premium position.
Lynch told Breer that he wanted to get the trade done before the draft, which Rivera ruled out, citing a substantial amount of league interest. In getting the eventual trade done, Lynch’s relationship with Ron Rivera was crucial, especially given the dynamic between Redskins owner Daniel Snyder and 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan, who, well, hate each other. As Breer wrote:
“Long story short, everyone involved was acutely aware that the team doing a deal would be, in essence, Snyder giving both Shanahan and Williams what they wanted, which made things inherently fragile. That’s where trust would play a role.”
Breer cited that trust as the 49ers’ cause for passing on Iowa tackle Tristan Wirfs. But here’s where things got tricky. When Brandon Aiyuk fell to 25 and the 49ers moved up with the Minnesota Vikings, Lynch worried that they could be giving the Vikings the necessary ammo to acquire Williams. They were the main team reported to be interested in drafting him, but instead took Boise State tackle Ezra Cleveland at No. 58 overall.
“Also, we knew Minnesota was in on Trent. Did we just arm them with the ammunition they needed to go get him? Like, Oh, gosh,” Lynch told Breer. “That thought went into it as well.”
In the end, the 49ers’ offer held firm into Day 3, and they got their second-straight stud at left tackle, at least for one more year. Breer’s article is worth the read, and goes through the team’s whole draft process.