Vote 49ers’ Trent Williams for MVP or go to hell

This is not a rant against Brock Purdy. I have already attempted, on multiple occasions, to cynically hold up the 49ers’ starting quarterback’s seventh-round draft status as proof that he’ll never be physically skilled enough to rank up with the Josh Allens of the world. That is no longer a viable argument, if it ever was one. The man is legit, and he has absolved both the Niners and head coach Kyle Shanahan of their attempt to make Trey Lance happen. I respect Brock Purdy, and I’m glad he’s getting talked up as an MVP candidate after he and his offense blew a hole in the Eagles on Sunday. 

BUT! Before we crown Brock’s tiny Iowa ass, let’s take a moment to appreciate the big strong man who makes him, and the 49ers as whole, go. That’s right: I’m talking about left tackle Trent Williams. The Big Man. “Mister T,” as fans call him. The realest MVP. Let’s watch “T-Dub” in action and revel in his God-given ability to mush defenders into the turf:

Trent Williams shouldn’t even be here. If the Washington Commanders were an actual football team, he’d still be with them, pancaking helpless linebackers and keeping poor Sam Howell from getting his ribs broken on every other play. Williams was a seven-time Pro Bowl tackle for the Commanders, and one of the lone bright spots of the Dan Snyder era. When I say that Trent Williams was beloved in Washington, I am not exaggerating. I live here, and I can tell you this is a city that canonizes its football heroes with irritating zeal. The only reason Sean Taylor was more beloved than Trent Williams in this town is because he died.

As Williams himself almost did. Back in 2013, Williams felt a lump on his head and went to Commanders’ notoriously lackluster medical staff to have it checked out. They told Williams that the lump was just groovy. They probably told him that playing tackle football might even help press the lump down and make it go away.

That lump instead grew, to the point where Williams couldn’t put his helmet on without experiencing pain at the site. Six years later, that lump turned out to be a form of cancer, known as dermatofibrosarcoma protuberans, that nearly killed him. He justifiably blamed the Commanders for failing to diagnose him properly from the outset, saying in late 2019 that there was “no trust” between him and the franchise. 

It was wise of him to not trust the Commanders, because they are the stupidest franchise in world history.

Thus started a cold war between Williams and that organization that led to him sitting out the entire 2019 season, with Snyder fining him every step of the way and ordering then-GM Bruce Allen to never offer him a contract extension, despite Williams clearly being Washington’s best player. “Not one dime,” Snyder ordered his stooge. Once Williams demanded a trade from Washington, Snyder and Allen let him twist until his trade value was at its minimum, and then offloaded him to the Niners in the spring of 2020 for a fifth-round pick in that year’s draft and a third-round pick in the next. Neither of those picks have amounted to anything of consequence for Washington, and likely won’t.

Meanwhile, since that trade, Williams has been the best offensive lineman, and perhaps best overall player, in the NFL. He’s made the All-Pro team the past two years, and almost certainly will make it three in a row once this season is over. And it’s no coincidence that Purdy had his worst three games of the season — three TDs and five picks in three straight losses to average teams — when Williams missed time with an ankle injury. Yes, Deebo Samuel was nursing an injured shoulder for those games too, but Deebo was also out for a handful of games during Purdy’s coming-out party a season ago, and we all know how that went. Also, this is a take about Trent Williams, so I’m going to surgically ignore Deebo’s contributions to this team in order to make my point …

Which is that it’s Trent Williams, and not Purdy, who should win the MVP. Now, the NFL will never give an offensive lineman this award, because MVP has turned into a strictly quarterback thing. Offensive linemen have no gaudy stats to tout, they’re often only as good as the rest of the unit they play on, and they’re generally boring. I’m not delusional — I know that I can’t will the league into picking Williams — but I can at least make him part of the conversation. And he deserves that after all of the Dan Snyder he’s been through.

Let’s have a look at the current crop of non-49er candidates, shall we? We have Dak Prescott, whose campaign will lose steam right when his head coach orders him to run a failed QB draw with no timeouts left at the end of Sunday night’s game against the Eagles. We have Jalen Hurts, who’s already thrown 10 horrific picks this season and whose cause is literally boosted by whichever Philly running back is shoving his asscheeks into the end zone. We have Lamar Jackson of the Ravens, who’ll probably sit out the rest of this month when he breaks a nail. And we can pick a member of the Dolphins offense out of a hat if we feel like it. 

None of these players have been as frighteningly consistent as Williams, who has registered as Pro Football Focus’s highest-graded tackle every season since 2020. Look at the Niners’ offensive splits this season when Williams was out of the lineup, and it’s quite clear that neither the team, nor Purdy, can live without him. He’s allowed exactly zero sacks all season while facing defenses that employed T.J. Watt, Aaron Donald, Kayvon Thibodeaux, Micah Parsons and Haason Reddick. Oh, and he made Myles Garrett his chew toy.

Show me a more valuable player than that. YOU CANNOT.

No offensive lineman has ever won the NFL MVP, and a KICKER has won that award. No OL has ever won the Heisman, and the last one to even make the finals for it was Orlando Pace in 1996. But these are the invisible behemoths who make football football, and they’re often more than happy to toil under the radar (and for a hefty salary). 

Trent Williams has done more than enough to earn his position, and himself, a rare spotlight. He beat cancer. He beat Dan Snyder. And he’ll beat your edge rusher to death with his giant bear paws. Last weekend, the Niners let the world know that they’re the most frightening team in the league, and Brock Purdy isn’t the chief reason why. That was the big guy’s doing. Give Trent Williams the acclaim he so richly deserves. I promise it won’t go to his head.