Rapsheet: 49ers agreed to restructure the final year of Trent Williams’ contract

San Francisco 49ers left tackle Trent Williams joined NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport on RapSheet + Friends’ latest podcast to discuss the final year of Williams’ contract. Rapsheet said Williams told him that both he and the 49ers agreed to restructure the final year of Williams’ contract. Williams is set to make $12.5 million in 2020. Rapoport said Williams would make around the same amount of money, but the 49ers put more money upfront.

That’s a nice incentive for Williams, who didn’t make anything from Washington in 2019. Some portion of his $12.5M base salary will be converted into a pro-rated signing bonus, which allows the cap hit of $12.5M to be lowered in 2020, but there’ll be rollover into 2021. With 2020 being Williams final year under contract, the rollover can be viewed as a “dummy year.” I took this as creating more space to extend George Kittle.

The full interview will come out next week, and hopefully, we have specific details on what Williams’ contract looks like. Over the Cap hasn’t updated any contract language for Williams at this time. If you’re wondering why Williams didn’t make anything in 2019, his salary wasn’t guaranteed. That’s been the case dating back a few years looking at his contract history. I imagine there were injury clauses and games played that needed to be reached for Williams. San Francisco’s angle seems like, “I’ll do this for you now, knowing we’re invested in you, but don’t forget to scratch our backs next year if you’ve played a full season.”

Everything about Williams’ story is fascinating. His health and age are sure to play a role in any contract extension talks. Let’s say we’re in December and the season is going great and Trent is playing well. Do John Lynch and the 49ers front office start negotiations, or do they wait to see Williams’s market in free agency? If you wait until March, the bidding wars will be tough to win. Williams’s contract situation, health, and how he plays on the field is one of the many storylines for the 49ers leading up to the season.