SANTA CLARA, Calif. — With the start of the early free agent negotiating window 13 days away, the San Francisco 49ers have a big piece of business they’re hoping to get done soon: figuring out the contract situation for left tackle Trent Williams.
As it stands, Williams is entering the final year of his deal and carries a salary cap number of $38.84 million, which includes a base salary of $22.21 million and has a $10 million option bonus due in the coming weeks. That option bonus has increased the urgency to strike a deal that works for both sides.
Sources told ESPN’s Adam Schefter on Tuesday that Williams and the Niners are “struggling to find a contractual solution.” Soon after, Niners general manager John Lynch spoke to reporters at the NFL combine in Indianapolis and offered a more optimistic perspective.
“What I’ll tell you is that in recent weeks I’ve met with both Trent and with his agent, Vincent Taylor, and had really good, productive and substantive meetings,” Lynch said. “And so, here’s what I know. Trent loves being a Niner. We love having Trent as a Niner and it’s up to us to figure that out and to thread that needle. There are some unique circumstances in that we all know what Trent is as a player, how great of a player he’s been. He’s going to be 38 years old and so there’s some things that go into that, but I think we’re all on the same page and feel very positive about where that’s going.”
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Getting a reworked deal done in the coming weeks would give the Niners cost and cap certainty heading into free agency. Williams’ current contract includes no more guaranteed money as of Tuesday and contains three void years remaining beyond this season.
At the end of the season, Williams told ESPN he was expecting the team to do some maneuvering with his contract, probably in the form of a short extension that would provide him further guarantees and give the team some additional cap relief for 2026.
That sounds simple enough, but this isn’t the first time the Niners and Williams have found it difficult to — as Lynch called it — thread the needle on a deal that works for both sides. Just like in 2024, when Williams held out of training camp for 40 days while seeking a lucrative contract extension, he holds plenty of leverage while also moving closer to the end of his career.
At that time, Williams ultimately agreed to a restructured three-year, $82.66 million deal that included $48 million at signing. After signing that deal, Williams called it a “very intricate” contract to work on as he also wanted to remain among the highest-paid tackles in the NFL.
Since then, Williams has continued to play at or near that level, which makes it harder for the 49ers to figure out how much to pay him while he continues to be on somewhat of a year-to-year approach when it comes to playing.
Williams will turn 38 on July 19 and has told ESPN repeatedly he’d like to play until he’s 40, which would mean any deal he and the Niners work out could be with an eye toward 2026 and 2027.
Because Williams is still one of the league’s top tackles — he earned a 12th Pro Bowl nod and second-team All-Pro honors in 2025 — and the Niners don’t have an obvious solution to replace him, it’s difficult to envision a scenario in which the 49ers would move on from him. If that did happen, however, the Niners would have to eat $34.15 million in dead money with only $4.69 million in cap savings.
“I think we’re on the right track and I know this, he’s been a tremendous asset to our organization,” Lynch said. “We love having him. My hope, and I’ve shared this with Trent, is that his name’s up in there in the rafters with the greats that have played for the Niners because he certainly fits that category.”
While the Niners work through the Williams situation, a familiar face has also returned to help them with personnel matters. Kwesi Adofo-Mensah, who began his career with the Niners in research and development from 2013 to 2019 and spent the past four years as the Minnesota Vikings’ general manager before he was fired in January, is back working in the team’s personnel department, Lynch said.
According to Lynch, Adofo-Mensah called him soon after the Vikings let him go and Lynch promptly told him that he had a place in San Francisco if he’s looking to return.
“That developed into more substantive talks and we’re bringing him back in a personnel executive role,” Lynch said. “After the draft, I think we hope to give more finality to, but we’re excited to have him back.”
Adofo-Mensah has already been back around the building and helping out, Lynch said. What his role ultimately is or if Adofo-Mensah is around long term will be determined later.
“Sometimes you do these things kind of on a temporary, let’s just get through the draft and then we’ll figure out exactly how we want to use them or what the permanent role might be if we can come to that. Or maybe something else comes his way,” Lynch said.
During his time meeting with reporters, Lynch also said the Niners agreed to terms on a contract extension for long snapper Jon Weeks and that the team is “not anticipating” using the franchise tag on kicker Eddy Pineiro but will continue to work on a new deal for him.
