Sherman predicts Trent Williams will return to the 49ers

Chris Collinsworth and Richard Sherman have co-hosted a podcast since the middle of the 2020 regular season. They hosted 49ers left tackle Trent Williams and made some predictions about where Williams would play next season on their latest podcast. Sherman and PFF analyst George Chahrouri both believe Williams will remain with the 49ers.

At 103:52, Sherman asked Williams how much of a role the quarterback position will play when deciding on which team he wants to play for. Here’s what Williams said:

“Any team that has a quarterback, that we can say has a Day 1 starter, right now, in March, is ahead of the curve. Because getting a quarterback is one of the hardest things to accomplish in the NFL.

You can’t really say that’s a rebuild process because you have the No. 1 piece in place. If you don’t have a quarterback, who knows how long it’ll take to get a Trevor Lawrence. These guys aren’t just growing on trees. They’re not accessible every draft.”

Williams continued with his assessment of Lawrence. He doesn’t believe the Jaguars will go through a rebuild because Lawrence is “ahead of the curve.” I wonder how many other players have a similar thought process on Lawrence or other rookie quarterbacks pairing up with a team like the Jets or Falcons at the top of the NFL Draft.

The two were all over the place — in a great, conversational way — and they dropped a lot of knowledge and nuggets for us. For example, Williams said the salary cap is “only an issue when they want it to be an issue” and Sherman lit up. People joke that the salary cap is a myth so it’s pretty funny to see the players in on the bit. Williams cited Dak Prescott’s most recent contract and why it’s difficult to understand the salary cap matters.

Williams is a fan of Kyle Shanahan’s system. During the conversation, he said, “I think Kyle’s system kind of puts me on display a little bit more than a lot of the other systems.”

On Tuesday, Ravens’ general manager Eric DeCosta spoke about the importance of how a player fits into an offensive or defensive scheme. DeCosta explained why it wouldn’t be effective for a power-running team like Baltimore to bring in a 280-pound offensive lineman.

Williams would fit in any scheme. He’s a unicorn on the talent spectrum. Trent sounded like a person aware that the best version of himself is in a Shanahan offense.

In the video below, beginning at around the 1:09:15 mark, George says, “This has been great. What I’ve taken away is that the San Francisco 49ers are No. 1 on your list. Kyle Shanahan’s offense, you wanna flex, and that’s where we’re predicting you’re gonna go.”

Williams was nodding along and smiling the entire time. Then, Sherm chimed in:

“Yeah, I got San Francisco. I got him staying in San Francisco for the faithful. I think he stays in San Francisco. I think he makes you guys happy for another five or six years, gets his golds jacket, and then decides whether he wants it in Washington or San Francisco.”

Trent followed that up by saying, “that’s not a bad take, fellas. That’s not a bad take. Y’all are barking up the right tree.”

Sherman using “you guys” when referring to the 49ers and their fans feels like the writing is on the wall. But Sherm did add that he would stay with the team if the financial situation plays out well for him. That statement was the first time we saw the “agent” version of Sherman.

George asked Williams what his prediction for the 10-year veteran was and where he’ll end up playing in 2021. Williams gave Sherman about 30 seconds to a minute's worth of praise, citing how good of a teammate Sherm was to how he connects with people from the very top to the bottom.

“I’d like to stay in the locker room with him, considering what he adds to the team. I think it’s going to be a win-now team, which, you know, I feel like we was on a win-now team.

Rich is so smart he could go anywhere and fit in any locker room. I don’t see any limitations with him. I don’t wanna say just say a team. I know how the Faithful is. I’m still holding out hope that he’ll end up in whatever locker room I’m in. I can see Kansas City and helping that defensive backfield. I want to see somewhere with nice weather where taxes aren’t holding him down.

Vegas sounds like a good team. The Colts. The AFC, there’s a lot of good places over there. As long as he don’t end up back in Seattle, I don’t want to see him twice a year if I was in San Francisco.”

You could tell the two have a great relationship with each other. That looked like two friends having a conversation. The two were laughing the entire time. That was refreshing to see.

By the sounds of the podcast, Williams isn’t going anywhere.