The San Francisco 49ers insist that the contract situations with wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk and tackle Trent Williams are independent of each other. However, ESPN's Jeremy Fowler believes one is indeed impacting the other.
Aiyuk aims to become one of the NFL's highest-paid receivers, and if that doesn't happen, he might welcome a trade to the Pittsburgh Steelers. Meanwhile, Williams is holding out of training camp and the preseason, seeking a restructured contract, likely with more guaranteed money.
"I'm told he's (Williams) pretty dug in," Fowler recently said on SportsCenter via Dan Morrison of 5 Goats. "He's going to withhold his services until they adjust his contract. He has three years left on his deal, but they know they've got to do something because their offense pretty much runs through him on that left side."
Williams is arguably the best offensive lineman in the NFL, even at 36 years old. A sure-fire first-ballot Hall of Famer, Williams is considered by several of his teammates, including tight end George Kittle and linebacker Fred Warner, as the 49ers' best player. The drop-off in talent along the offensive line after Williams is significant, and his absence this season would be a major setback for a team with Super Bowl aspirations.
"He's only the fourth highest paid left tackle despite being probably the best over the last few years, future Hall of Famer," Fowler said. "So, it's difficult because if they traded Aiyuk, it's much easier to just pay Williams. Now, they're trying to juggle both and figure all that out. At the same time, they already pay a lot of stars and they're trying to reset their salary cap. It's tough for them right now."
The 49ers are still working on a contract extension with Aiyuk. The team has reportedly put an improved offer on the table, but there's still at least one more detail to resolve, prolonging the process.
"The 49ers are trying to hash out a long-term deal with Brandon Aiyuk," Fowler continued. "They still have trade parameters on the table with the Pittsburgh Steelers, who have been sort of waiting this out, but those talks have been sort of quiet of late.
"So, they want to try to get a deal done, but there's still some details they want to hash out. They know where Aiyuk sits on some of those details. They've got to decide [if they] are they willing to match it, give him a contract that he would accept to get him on the field."
