Trent Williams has been one of the most-discussed players in the NFL for about a year now, and it presently does not sound like the Redskins are close to trading their disgruntled left tackle. One of the more overlooked talking points, however, is what happens if a trade is not completed?
We recently heard that the team does not plan to release Williams, which means he would remain under contract with the Redskins through 2020. And holding out wouldn’t earn him any leverage with the Redskins or with a team interested in trading for him, so as Albert Breer of SI.com writes, Williams would have no choice but to play for Washington next season. He clearly does not want that to happen, but at this point, his clearest path to a lucrative new deal may be to stick it out for one more season with the ‘Skins and prove he is still a top-tier LT.
Let’s round up a few more items from the league’s east divisions:
- CB Kendall Fuller is back with the Redskins on a four-year deal, and he tells John Keim of ESPN.com that a number of factors brought him back to D.C. The Baltimore native played his collegiate ball at Virginia Tech and was drafted by the Redskins in 2016, so Washington is home for him. He also cited new head coach Ron Rivera and Rivera’s reputation for developing CBs as a draw, along with the defensive staff as a whole. Fuller indicated that he does not know if he will play primarily in the slot or outside the numbers (Twitter links).
- The Eagles brought back Jalen Mills on a one-year, $4MM pact, and the club plans on transitioning him from cornerback to safety in the wake of Malcolm Jenkins‘ departure. Mills says that Philadelphia was the only team that wanted to move him to safety (Twitter link via Eliot Shorr-Parks of 94 WIP), but obviously that switch was agreeable to the 2016 seventh-rounder. It’s fair to wonder, however, exactly how much interest Mills was generating as a CB on the open market.
- Ereck Flowers couldn’t hack it as an offensive tackle in the NFL, but he has reinvented himself as a guard and parlayed a strong showing at LG with Washington in 2019 into a surprising three-year, $30MM contract with the Dolphins last month. This will not come as much of a surprise, but Armando Salguero of the Miami Herald says Miami intends to have Flowers line up at guard, though his experience at tackle made him attractive to head coach Brian Flores, who clearly targeted FAs with positional versatility.
- The Bills opted against giving WR/KR Isaiah McKenzie an RFA tender, but they did re-sign him to a one-year pact just the same. McKenzie told Jay Skurski of the Buffalo News that he did have other free agent offers, but despite the fact that he is unlikely to see more playing time with the Bills in 2020 than he did in 2019, his preference was to return to Buffalo (Twitter link).
One year older and over the prior 3 seasons that he did play he averaged 11 games a year. Not worth it.
Williams is on the wrong side of 30 to sit out at all and expect a big payday. Tough spot for sure.
I can’t feel sorry for a man who can’t bring himself to play football for $14.5 million/year. His nickname in Washington has changed from Silverback to Greenback Williams. If a player signs his contract with its signing bonus and guarantees, he should fulfill it. If a player wants to play year to year, he should let his agent know and sign year to year contracts.
Great to see Flowers get his payday after a single good season with the Redskins as a guard. It seems like something of an overpay: Flowers is good as a guard, about $6 million/season good but not all pro. May he continue to flourish in Miami. If the Redskins wanted a longer term deal, they should have signed him to it when they had a chance (as a free agent a year ago)
to be fair, it’s understandable to not want to play for a team whose doctors might have concealed knowledge of a cancerous tumor
Yeah enough with the cry baby routine already. You sign a contract then you need to be a man and live up to it!
Ereck Flowers is absolutely God awful
Which explains why he will fit in so well with the Dolphins.
Nate Solder and a second for Trent Williams
Redskins get back Solder who is no where near as good but plays the same position and can start or play off the bench to fill out that O line. They also get a solid pick in the second round.
Giants get rid of Solder who is on about 15mil and get in Williams and then give him a good contract 18mil a year for 3 years, would be alright. Williams instantly makes the o line much much stronger which helps Barkley and Jones.
On completion of that trade both GMs exchange high fives then watch their teams go on to 4-12 seasons…lol.
I don’t know I like the Giants this year.
With Trent Williams they would have a solid line with Will Hernandez and Kevin Zeitler there.
Daniel Jones looks like a nice young QB, Barkley is a beast at RB, Shepard, Tate, Slayton and hopefully Coleman can be decent to average as targets. And they have a good group of TE’s starting with Engram.
On defence they have brought in a handful of players they are deep up front with Tomlinson, Lawrence, Williams, Hill and Johnson. Ebner, Bradberry and Martinez are all good deals and join a young group of Ximmes, Carter, Baker and Peppers.
I hope they go more like 8-8 with Trent Williams