Come Home, Trent
February 24, 2020
by Steve Thomas
This thing between Trent Williams and the Redskins needs to stop. I understand where he’s coming from in terms of being frightened and upset by his cancer scare last year, but the fact of the matter is that (1) Trent also made it very clear that his holdout was also about money, not just his health, and (2) it’s over now. It’s time for him to end the madness and start participating with the team again. Call me a jerk if you want, but my sympathy for Trent only goes so far.
As background, you may recall that when Trent finally spoke to the media this past November, he told a fairly horrible and disconcerting story about how the team’s medical staff allegedly misdiagnosed a growth on his head by telling him it wasn’t a concern. Some time later, he learned from a doctor not affiliated with the team that the growth was cancerous and needed to be removed immediately because his life was at stake. That’s a terrible thing to happen to anyone, certainly. To the extent that the Redskins’ medical staff didn’t raise appropriate alarm bells (which isn’t really an incontrovertible fact at this point), I understand his unhappiness, but I’m also not sure we’ve heard the whole story. Call it an unsupported hunch. At the time he spoke, Trent also made it clear that he also placed significant blame on the shoulders of former GM Bruce Allen, in part for being a cold and uncaring jerk about the entire affair. He indicated that he didn’t want to play for the Redskins again as a result. However, Trent also said that his holdout was a play for more guaranteed money, so his stance has been both medical and financial.
I don’t want to seem callous here – I sympathize with Trent’s plight. Cancer is a killer and having a doctor tell you to get your affairs in order would scare anyone, and it’s easy to see why he blamed the team for his situation. However, at some point, enough is enough. Dan Snyder fired Allen, the coaching staff, the entire medical staff, and a big chunk of the front office. It’s an entirely new team and Trent’s had a year off. The people who he feels wronged him are gone. He’s healthy, has a contract, a team that desperately needs him, and teammates who like and respect him. He needs to do the right thing and come back to work.
At a bare minimum, I think he has a moral obligation to give the team a conclusive answer about his willingness to play next year prior to the draft, at least, preferably sooner. To fail to do that puts the Redskins in the poor position of not fully understanding their needs heading into the two major offseason events in which they can fill said needs, free agency and the draft. My sympathy does have limits, and for me that limit is keeping the Redskins in limbo past the draft. The team needs to know whether it needs to spend a high draft pick – maybe the second overall pick – on a left tackle, because free agency probably is going to be a bust in that regard, at least if they want to find anything more than a temporary stopgap.
The latest on this situation from multiple sources last week is that Trent might come back now that the Redskins have cleaned house. Hopefully this is the case, but if it isn’t, the best lure the Redskins have is a contract extension. Bear with me before you scream at me that I’m being stupid.
I’m not opposed to tacking on a year or two to his existing contract if that’s what it takes to get Williams back in both body and spirit. Right now, Trent, who turns 32 in July, is entering the final year of his contract and counts for $12.5M against the salary cap. While that is certainly lower than his status in the league would suggest, that contract was negotiated five years ago and was commensurate to his standing at the time. If Williams insists on continuing his holdout over his contract, the team should offer him a two year, $38.5M contract extension, which would take him through the 2022 season, when he’d be 34:
- $12M signing bonus
- Fully guarantee 2020 and 2021, with 2022 guaranteeing ten days after the end of the 2021 league year.
- Base salaries of $13M in 2021 and $13.5M in 2022
His contract would look like this:
Year Base Salary Cap Hit Dead Money
2020 $12.5M $16.5M $37.5M
2021 $13.0M $17.0M $33.5M
2022 $13.5M $17.5M $ 4.0M
I showed you last week why the Redskins can afford this contract (click here to read). More importantly, this would bring Trent up at an average annual value of $17M, which would put him above Taylor Lewan for the highest in the NFL, and would guarantee him $37.5M at signing, with the remaining $13.5M becoming guaranteed later. Being the highest paid tackle in the NFL would matter to Trent and allow him to effectively finish his career as a Redskin, at an addition of just $4M in salary cap space onto what Trent is already going to cost the team for this coming season. With my deal, the Redskins would solve their tackle problem for the next three years and give Trent the guaranteed dollars and respect he’s looking for. If Williams just can’t stay healthy, then the move for the team would be to ride it out through 2021, then decline to guarantee the 2022 season. It’s not ideal but it wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world, either.
Two years of high dead money is doable since the Redskins most likely wouldn’t want to cut him anyway, and that’s the only time dead money matters. My hope is that his year-long sabbatical has allowed him to fully heal and prepare him to start playing full seasons again.
If that plan doesn’t work and he still doesn’t want to come back, then screw him. Trade him to the new expansion franchise in Greenland.