Kawakami: Trent Williams on the underdog 49ers, Purdy's trajectory, and his NFL future

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Sometimes when Trent Williams talks about the future, he sounds a little weary and maybe like he won't be in a 49ers uniform protecting the blind side for very much longer.

Sometimes you think this is a looming emergency for the 49ers they mostly are ignoring. Sometimes you picture them without their future Hall of Fame left tackle after this season or the one after that, and you wonder if everything about the 49ers' offensive line is headed toward a steep precipice. Swiftly.

But then there are times like Thursday after practice, when the 37-year-old Williams plopped down in a PR office, smiled, chuckled, and sounded like he was refreshed enough to play another decade. Well, at least another several years, which is perfect for the 49ers, because Kyle Shanahan told me at the start of training camp that he sees this as Year 1 in a new three-year competitive cycle for this franchise.

And I'm pretty sure this presumes that No. 71 is likely to be out there blocking for Brock Purdy and everyone else through all of it.

"I like to hear that," Williams told me on my podcast. "Physically, I don't feel different. And I know guys won't even be able to fathom that until they get around this age. But not only did I get this age, I kind of did things right. I actually bust my ass every offseason ...

"Because I put the work in, I can see myself going another three years — not saying that it won't be any drop off or not saying I'll be the same person today as I will be in three years. But I can see it. I can fathom it. That reality doesn't seem too far-fetched, in my opinion."

Williams added that he's actually aiming for five more years, to go well into his 40s, but said he has to take it year by year. He doesn't want to play poorly. He wants to be the same vital part of the 49ers that he's been since he arrived in a fleecing of a trade with Washington in 2020. And obviously the 49ers will have a say, too.

A lot of this, of course, will be determined by Williams' health as he goes through this season and beyond. While holding out for a new deal, he missed all of training camp last year but played the first 10 games last season at his normal All-Pro level. Then Williams suffered his second ankle injury in two seasons and missed the last seven games, while the 49ers' season burned into bits. Which was the first time he hasn't been voted to the Pro Bowl in his 49ers career. He and his wife, Sondra, also tragically lost their son, Trenton Jr., who was stillborn, in November after previously losing his twin earlier in her pregnancy.

This summer, Williams is back with his teammates and clearly relishing the camaraderie and work. He definitely seems to have lost some weight, is very bouncy while blocking, and is flourishing in Shanahan's accomplished-veteran schedule of two days of practice then one day off.

And like his teammates, Williams had more time off after last season because the 49ers were done so early — a kind of gap year following the consecutive deep runs into the playoffs after the 2021, 2022, and 2023 seasons.

"I didn't use a lot of tread on tires last year, so to speak," Williams said. "And coming off of so much downtime, I wanted to hit it hard this offseason to, kind of, you know, prove to myself that I can still go out there and do the same things that I've been doing, workout wise. And because I feel like once you're able to do those things, that'll probably carry over to the football field."

So Williams is getting the highest level of competition possible in his battles with Nick Bosa in practice, watching Mykel Williams and the other rookie standouts in their first NFL camps, and back envisioning better times for the 49ers after the 6-11 collapse last season.

The whole spiral started when Christian McCaffery surprisingly had to go on injured reserve hours before the regular-season opener — and the injuries never stopped. Which led to all the frustration and all of the losses. Then at the start of the offseason, the 49ers traded away Williams' good friend Deebo Samuel to the Commanders, traded Jordan Mason to the Vikings, and lost Dre Greenlaw, Talanoa Hufanga, Charvarius Ward, Aaron Banks, and Jaylon Moore in free agency. Even now, the 49ers are without Brandon Aiyuk and Malik Mustapha while they recover from knee injuries.

So the 49ers are underdogs right now, and Williams is loving the new position for this team.

"Everybody will look and say, 'Oh, you lost this All-Pro, you lost that All-Pro, you don't have this person, this guy, getting older,' this and that," Williams said. "But in my opinion, we're in the same boat; we have all the talent."

Williams went on to suggest it's a favorable position to be in.

"Everybody's gonna kind of bat an eye at us because we don't have Greenlaw. Deebo isn't with us anymore. I am 37. It's a lot of stuff that people are going to drag at and say, 'Oh, I don't think this can be the same team.' But honestly, that's how you want it, right? You don't want the bull's-eye on your back every week you go out there, everybody's (thinking), 'Oh, here comes the best team in the league.'

"So the fact that everybody's kind of sleeping on us, the fact that we finished last in our division, so it gives you a favorable schedule going forward, I think all of that plays into our hands."

Williams has praised Jed York in the past for providing the cash it took to assemble and keep this star-studded roster together for as long as it lasted. And Williams isn't critical of the 49ers' money decisions last spring. The savviest players mostly could see this all coming.

But emotionally, what was it like to watch all of his teammates go out the door?

"Obviously, you never want to see players that can contribute to you winning the championship walk out the door," Williams said. "But the business is a business, and it's always been that way. Dre Greenlaw is like a brother to me. Deebo is like a brother to me. I love to see those guys go get the money they deserve, find the homes that's mutually agreed upon. ... Obviously, you would want them to be here, but ... that's just not the reality of the NFL."

Who knows how they'll all hold up in the regular season — or over a host of seasons — but the 49ers' practices look different this summer because their top four draft picks are impossible to miss. Every day you see something dynamic out of Mykel Williams, Alfred Collins, Nick Martin, Upton Stout, or CJ West. Or from several of them.

But Williams said the atmosphere around the 49ers is the same as it's been for years — led by most of the same guys. And that the young players are fitting into that spirit.

"I wouldn't say different, because, you know, I think the culture has stayed the same," Williams said. "The message has stayed the same. Obviously, we got new blood in the locker room, going straight defense in a lot of in the draft, a lot of those guys are expected to help us from Day 1. So by that, ultimately, you get younger.

"But no, I just think, I mean we're under the same leadership, the same captains driving the boat."

And oh yeah, there's Purdy, who Williams singled out as a rookie, after Purdy was famously the last pick of the 2022 draft and beat out Nate Sudfeld to become, at that point, the 49ers' No. 3 quarterback.

Since then, Purdy's made the Pro Bowl, won multiple playoff games, gotten to the Super Bowl, and made plays in a Super Bowl. And a few months ago, Purdy landed a $265-million deal that changed his family's fortunes for generations and, by the way, cemented his status as the 49ers' most essential figure for years to come.

"Every time I look at Brock, I just smile, man, because, like, this was not in his cards," Williams said. "Nobody would have ever said, 'Hey, this Mr. Irrelevant is going to be one of the highest paid quarterbacks in the league.' ... But that's why, when I look at him, just like, 'Damn, bro, you really did it. I'm uber-proud of you, bro.'...

"Going from there and to now, to where you're looking at it's like, man, you got no worries. Now it's time to go, accomplish all the goals we set out. Now it's time to go be in the running for NFL MVP. Go win a Super Bowl. Go get Super Bowl MVP — like all of that is now in front of you. Nothing holding it back. No parachutes, no nothing. You can go full, full force ahead."