SANTA CLARA — Trent Williams will be getting his locker back soon.
His second locker, that is.
Williams, the All-Pro, future Hall of Fame left tackle, was back in the Bay Tuesday after six weeks of holding out and six days before the start of the 2024 regular season.
And when he was gone, he was downgraded to a single stall in the Levi’s Stadium locker room, as if he were an ordinary player.
Williams, who last year had a palatial, two, sometimes three-locker piece of real estate, might have renegotiated $48 million worth of guaranteed money on his new deal, but he forgot to add the second locker back to negotiations.
“I guess I have to earn it back,” he joked Tuesday.
Certainly such arrangements can be made in the days and weeks to come. Sorry, Malik Mustapha, but you’re probably going to have to move your stuff soon.
While the locker situation is a punchline, like with any good joke, it highlights a truth.
Why did Williams have two lockers while everyone else had one?
And why did no one — not a soul — complain about it?
It’s because Williams is the most important player on the team — not only on the field but also in the locker room.
And for a team whose vibes have been downright atrocious for weeks, there was a new levity at play with the big fella back with the team.
Williams is a double dose of Tylenol for a team mired in a deep, ugly Super Bowl hangover.
Even amid the frightening Ricky Pearsall situation, the result of which general manager John Lynch called “miraculous” multiple times Tuesday, for the first time in a long time, there are reasons for optimism with the Niners.
You only had to look at the smiling man at the single locker to understand why.
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One reason — perhaps the singular reason — football resonates so strongly with us is because there’s still a primal aspect to the game. Forget your schemes and fancy moves, this sport is still all about speed and power. And Williams is a frighteningly perfect vessel …read more
Source:: The Mercury News – Entertainment
