That mentioned, Williams continues to carry out like the long run Corridor of Famer that he’s, having earned First Staff All-Professional honors in every of his first three years in San Francisco. His significance to the membership’s offensive operation is unmistakable, and ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler expects the Niners to deal with Williams’ deal not directly.
In terms of Williams’ contract, Fowler makes use of the time period “rework” reasonably than “lengthen.” Whereas there is no such thing as a assured cash left on Williams’ deal, he’s clearly in no hazard of being launched this season, so his $20.05M base wage for the 2024 marketing campaign just isn’t in jeopardy.
Nonetheless, his deal now slots in fifth amongst offensive tackles by way of AAV, and whatever the size of a contract when it’s signed, an NFL membership’s brass can’t be terribly stunned when a high-performing participant seeks extra safety after the ensures on that contract run out. Per Fowler, Williams “has conviction” in his holdout, and as a participant who has secured over $170M in his taking part in profession, he isn’t terribly involved concerning the $50K in non-waivable fines that accrue with every day of camp that he misses.
Whereas Williams and Aiyuk play totally different positions and are at very totally different levels of their careers, their contract conditions do affect one another. As Fowler notes, Aiyuk just isn’t budging from his “pay-me-or-trade-me” stance, and San Francisco is unwilling to authorize a contract at or close to the highest of a ballooning WR market that now has 4 gamers making no less than $30M per season.
The ESPN scribe says negotiations between participant and crew haven’t progressed, and that commerce presents might finally change into too tempting for the Niners to cross up.
If San Francisco does transfer Aiyuk, giving Williams a increase would change into a lot simpler. A technique or one other, the crew realizes it could must bear a “considerate reset” of its wage cap within the close to future, that means that it might want to half methods with a lot of high-end gamers with the intention to stay aggressive over the lengthy haul.
After all, quarterback Brock Purdy will seemingly land a large extension subsequent season, including one other costly contract to a roster that presently has seven gamers incomes between $15M-$34M per yr, with a couple of others slightly below that $15M/yr threshold.