San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan told reporters over the weekend that the team wasn't too concerned about Trent Williams' contract while trading for the seven-time Pro Bowl tackle. It just wanted to get him in the building first.
Williams is entering the final year of his deal, and may even be willing to reduce his salary-cap number for the opportunity to play with San Francisco.
Trent Williams and the 49ers are expected to restructure the last year on his contract, per source. But Williams will report and will play for SF this season.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) April 25, 2020
"I think the plan was to land him right now and then let the rest kind of work itself out," Shanahan said on Saturday. "I think it's always an advantage when you get someone in the building, on your roster. Now, you've got a chance, and we'll get a really good look at him."
General manager John Lynch joined 95.7 The Game on Thursday and was asked about Williams' contract, and if there is a plan to try to lock him up to an extension.
"It's a one year deal, and figure it out," Lynch said on the Joe, Lo and Dibs show. "Now, figuring it out, some teams have policies that they don't talk contracts during the year. We don't have a hard and true policy for that, so we felt like it was important to just get Trent in the building. We felt what we had to give was worth that, to have that position locked up with a guy who is an exceptional player. So we took that leap.
"I always believe if you want to try to work to get a guy done, the best way to do that is to get him in the building, get him comfortable with who we are. I think he'll really like what we have going on here, and we'll kind of let that all play out."
Williams is currently set to count $12.5 million against the salary cap, which is just $1 million more than the amount that recently-retired tackle Joe Staley was scheduled to eat up.
You can listen to the entire conversation with Lynch below.