Every single week, 49ers fans see the same tweet from PFF: Trent Williams is on pace to be the highest-graded player of all time.
The highest graded offensive player of the 2021 season thus far:
🔹Trent Williams (95.6) pic.twitter.com/z0VhWq52i7
— PFF Bet (@PFF_Bet) November 1, 2021
Trent Williams has a nearly perfect 99.5 zone run-blocking grade this season 🤯🤯 pic.twitter.com/O6QzX6lHTf
— PFF (@PFF) November 10, 2021
#49ers LT Trent Williams has a 97.8 PFF grade on the season. That's the highest graded player in the league.
His run blocking grade is 98.9 (!!)
That's utterly unprecedented.🤯 pic.twitter.com/IQ2bQasmtS
— Ari Meirov (@MySportsUpdate) November 17, 2021
PFF is not perfect. Nowhere near it. Jimmy Garoppolo has been graded as the best quarterback since Week 8, while playing the role of game manager. But, PFF serves as a specific metric, and has brought up one certainly true point: Trent Williams is really, really good.
During the offseason, Williams signed a monster six-year, $138 million deal that made him the highest paid tackle in the NFL, even though he was already 32 years old.
In his age-33 season, the 49ers left tackle has had arguably the best season of his career, despite being on the wrong side of 30, and Williams is proving why that investment was an extremely smart move for the 49ers given that San Francisco gave up just a third and fifth round pick in 2020 to acquire him from the Washington Football Team.
Kyle Shanahan was asked about his star offensive lineman and had nothing but praise for the highest-graded NFL player this year.
"I expect Trent to be one of the best players on the field every week. Everyone knows how talented Trent is and the way he plays, he enjoys playing. And he's been playing at an extremely high level this year. I probably would say it's probably the best year that Trent's had just up to now. Just consistency and playing up to that level every week, but we're just past halfway there. So, he's got a lot more to go and we need him to play like an A-player this week too."
In addition to his praise and expectations for Williams, Shanahan agreed on the sentiment that the 33-year old has had the best season of his career.
"Yeah, I would say [that Trent's played the best of his career this season].
Whether it's mauling edge rushers in the run game or stoutly defending in pass protection, Williams will look to protect whoever's under center this season and next season, when the keys to the offense are expected to be handed to rookie Trey Lance.
But, for now, San Francisco's main focus will be the Minnesota Vikings, who will likely be without pass rushers Everson Griffen and Danielle Hunter, as both teams are vying for a playoff spot while tied at 5-5 in the standings.