Trent Williams would appear to have it all. He's the best tackle in football on a huge contract playing for a team that perennially contends for the Super Bowl.
But a rival coordinator revealed one thing the San Francisco 49ers All-Pro does not have, a weakness.
Williams was unsurprisingly ranked as the top tackle in football following an ESPN poll of coaches, executives and scouts, retaining his spot at the summit from the previous year after helping the 49ers to the Super Bowl.
"Does it all at a high level, still," the NFL coordinator said in Jeremy Fowler's piece on the list of the top 10 tackles. "Protection, run game, second-level stuff downfield -- no weakness in his game and I haven't seen the skill set diminish."
One AFC executive did see a little bit of a drop-off in 2023, though he did not attribute that to any deterioration in Williams' abilities.
"I thought he was playing hurt last year and it affected his play a bit," said the executive. "But that's nit-picking. He's still dominant."
Williams did suffer an ankle injury in the 49ers' Week 6 loss to the Cleveland Browns, one he played through, only to then miss the next two games.
He did not miss any other games the rest of the way as the 49ers made it all the way to the biggest stage, earning a third successive first-team All-Pro nod following a campaign that saw him post a pass block win rate of 95.8, the best among all tackles.
Entering his 14th season in the NFL, there have been few signs of Williams slowing down. He is a foundational piece on the 49er offense acquired with one of the best trades in franchise history . San Francisco doesn't have an heir apparent waiting in the wings, so the 49ers are ill-prepared for a Williams drop-off. Thankfully, there's no reason to believe it's on the horizon.
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