49ers news: Trent Williams says he wants to play until he’s 40

San Francisco 49ers left tackle Trent Williams said he hasn’t signed his contract yet to finalize a new deal, but it’s all but done: “Yeah, it’s pretty much done. I haven’t signed anything.” That changed in a matter of minutes, as his agency reported the details of Williams’ contract shortly after Williams was finished speaking. More on that in a bit.

Williams was asked what he wanted to accomplish by holding out and staying away from the team. He gave an honest answer:

“Just security. Obviously, it’s a volatile league. A guy of my stature and my age, I felt like security was important. And that was all.”

Williams said his contract talks began back in minicamp, and he did not believe it would get drawn out this close to the regular season. He added that head coach Kyle Shanahan is like family to him, and he kept that kind of rapport with Shanahan and general manager John Lynch throughout the process.

Whenever Lynch or Shanahan spoke about Williams, they seemed unconcerned. Williams has earned the right for security, and he got what he was looking for.

His contract details are out, and receiving $48 million at the time of signing, $27 million in Year 1, and your next two years of salary fully guaranteed is enough security for everybody reading this. The difference is that Williams is the best to ever do something in a profession where few people make it to a second contract, let alone at age 36.

Just because Trent wasn’t around the team doesn’t mean he wasn’t watching his teammates. Williams shared his scouting report for the rookie class:

“The guy that jumped off the tape to me, there was a few guys, but in no particular order, obviously [Dominick] Puni coming in and playing the way he played in those preseason games. Looking at his poise, just looking like he’s been here before. I’m like, ‘Man, he looks like he can contribute Day 1.’ He was such a steal. Such a good find for those guys.

I heard a lot of good things about Rickey [Pearsall] from the guys. I didn’t get to see him in real action. Just knowing that he’s going to be a huge key in this offense, when the time is right.

The safety, Malik Mustapha, he was fun to watch. Watching him come downhill and bring that hat. Just play with that tenacity that you see, that the 49ers defense plays with. It’s the reason that we’ve gone so far in recent years. Just seeing young guys like that.

Seeing the other rookie receiver [Jacob] Cowing. I thought he looked electric when he got his opportunities.

And it was one more….Oh, the running back! I feel like the running back was a pretty good add. It’s kinda funny how Kyle just keeps finding all these guys. You think they come out of nowhere. These guys get in, and it looks like they can contribute Day 1. And as a rookie, that’s an extremely hard thing to do, especially in today’s world, where it’s a microwave league. We want to see everybody be good as soon as they step in the door. So, you know, that’s kind of my evaluation from what I’ve watched from the window.”

Williams might have a future in the 49ers front office. But don’t expect Williams to hang up the cleats any time soon. Williams said, “I wanna play till I’m 40.”

Williams said Pearsall’s incident over the weekend made him want to get back around his teammates:

“I’ve never experienced that in my playing career, have a teammate shot, so to speak. So, in my mind, I just want to get back and get around the team. Rickey stood out to me because when I did pop in for OTAs for the 30 minutes that I was here, he did go out of his way to come over and introduce himself to me. Obviously, we were going to introduce ourselves eventually. But I’m there, and there are 90 guys on the team. I’m just walking out, I don’t really know everybody just yet.

For him to kind of introduce, I just instantly felt his vibe. I can feel that he’s genuinely such a good person. I just want to be the voice in his ear and let him know everything will be all right and I’ll be there for the team.

A lot of people are probably hurt and confused and thinking, ‘Am I next.’ I wanted to be around for that. My message is to realize you’re a target. This world is a harsh place. A very, very harsh place. And I think sometimes, we are shielded from reality, for better or worse, whatever the reason is. We can be.”

These are wise words from a player who has been around the block and seen more than most players on the roster. It also shows Williams’ maturity and awareness levels, knowing he can provide wisdom to the 49ers’ youngsters.