Williams puts rust concerns to rest with eye-popping stat vs. Jets originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
Two star 49ers players missed a majority of training camp this offseason awaiting new contracts.
But when their respective deals were complete, the concern shifted to their game day prep and whether they’d be able to shake the rust off for San Francisco’s Week 1 game against the New York Jets on Monday night.
For Trent Williams — an 11-time Pro Bowl selection and three-time All-Pro — he stepped onto the Levi’s Stadium field and didn’t miss a beat.
Williams didn’t allow a single pressure against the Jets on 33 pass blocking snaps, per Next Gen Stats. It was his first game without allowing a pressure since Week 3 of the 2022 NFL season.
Not bad for a guy who was removed from the reserve/did not report list and activated three hours before Monday’s kickoff.
Williams agreed to a new three-year deal with the 49ers worth $82.66 million last week, including $48 million fully guaranteed. Williams then attended practice but did not participate until last Thursday — four days before the season opener.
“It was uncharted waters for me,” Williams admitted to reporters after San Francisco’s 32-19 win over New York. “I’ve never been in a situation where I didn’t have the luxury of being able to knock the rust off in camp. I’ve never came off a six-month, seventh-month layoff and ride into game week. So that was new for me. I really didn’t know what to expect. Obviously, I’ve played a lot of football so I knew it would come back to me, I just didn’t know how long it would take.
“Obviously there’s rust involved. Got to get in football shape and hadn’t played football, you can’t replicate the exhaustion that you put yourself through a football game. Especially O-linemen, pushing the truck every play. Honestly, I didn’t know what to expect tonight. I have a lot of confidence in myself to go and play at a high level but like I said, it’s unchartered water so I didn’t know how much that would affect me.”
No training camp, no problem for one of the best in the game.
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