00:00Grant and Danny on the fan with you until 6.30 this evening.
00:05Then overtime with the Nats off.
00:07They'll be back in action out in Phoenix, Arizona tomorrow for some Friday night baseball.
00:12Trent Williams announced at Organized Team Activities for San Francisco yesterday
00:16that he is expecting this could be his final NFL season.
00:21Now, nothing official. He's not going to make the announcement now a year ahead of time.
00:25But he's leaning in that direction. Thinks this could very well be it.
00:3016th year for a guy who was the No. 4 overall pick in the 2010 draft out of Oklahoma.
00:38So to just date this, he was the first pick of the Mike Shanahan regime here in D.C.
00:43when Shanahan was brought in to run that op back in 2010, now 17 football seasons ago,
00:49which is crazy to think about.
00:51He spent nine years with Washington, made Pro Bowls and all, but the first couple of those seasons.
00:56And I think he probably could have, if not for...
00:59Remember early in his career, he was getting in trouble, had a couple suspensions.
01:01That's right, yeah.
01:02Some things where he just couldn't stay on the field.
01:04But as soon as he put those behind him, didn't get in trouble anymore.
01:0816 or more games just about every season and in the Pro Bowl every year,
01:12including one time where he was a second-team All-Pro.
01:15Had the falling out with the organization via Dan Snyder and Bruce Allen.
01:18Didn't play in 19.
01:20Refused to ever play for them again.
01:21They had to trade him after a cancer scare and thinking he was going to lose his life
01:26that was misdiagnosed, according to him.
01:28Well, then he goes to San Francisco for peanuts and since then has played now in what is going
01:33to be his seventh season for the 49ers as a three-time All-Pro, cementing himself as a
01:38Hall of Famer.
01:39But Trent Williams, Danny, says this could be his last ride.
01:42Well, do you remember around that draft when it was pretty clear that Washington was going
01:46to need a tackle, kind of as Chris Samuels was winding down?
01:49There was, I think, a lot of debate that Russell Okung was the guy who ended up going to Seattle,
01:54had a nice career in his own right, not what Trent Williams certainly did, but he was there
01:57and I think, tell me if I'm wrong about this, not basketball Anthony Davis, who does a lot
02:02of podcasts and talks about maybe playing for the Wizards at some point or not, I don't
02:05know, but there was an Anthony Davis that went to San Francisco, I think, if memory serves,
02:10who was a pretty good tackle as well.
02:12And it was a, okay, the Shanahan's know best in this case when they went with Trent Williams
02:17because it was sort of more their type, the more athletic type maybe than kind of the
02:20big mauler that some of the other guys were.
02:22And he turned in one of the great tackle careers in history.
02:26He was always, he wasn't mentioned first or second most of the time in his career, probably
02:32should have been, to be honest with you, playing for bad teams here in Washington for
02:34the most part.
02:35There was always one other guy who was a headliner or one other dude that was maybe thought
02:38of as the left tackle at that point before, you know, the PFFs of the world and kind
02:43of these grading sites were as ubiquitous, but what a super unbelievably great career.
02:48No matter what metric you look at, always hard to figure with offensive linemen, like
02:52what stats are you looking at?
02:53It's not pancakes or, you know, the number of road graded blocks or some other kind of
02:57thing, but you look at approximate value, some of the things that try to equalize over
03:01the years, the best player, the most value in his career from anybody in that draft class
03:06and for a couple of guys before and after as well in terms of years.
03:11So what are the great careers of all time?
03:12Yeah, I've said this a bunch on this show, but he was one of my favorite players I ever
03:17covered in any sport as a person and as a player.
03:20The way that he went about his business and frankly, just his genuineness.
03:25We were talking about Russell Wilson last segment.
03:28Trent Williams was a real guy, man.
03:31You know, he was fun.
03:32You could have a little fun.
03:33He would call me over to his locker sometimes and ask me the most ridiculous questions.
03:38And you could tell he was just kind of having fun with me.
03:40Like, you know, I like you.
03:44You're in the locker room, but like, you know, we didn't get here the same way.
03:47You know what I'm saying?
03:48But, you know, you love the game that he played with me where he would ask me things
03:51about like, did you have an island in your kitchen?
03:54He's like, then you grew up with money.
03:56You know, did you have a boat that you guys went out on on the weekends?
03:59And we had all kinds of fun and just good conversations.
04:02But a really genuine great guy and a pro.
04:06Like, once a week, he's going to hold court about the matchup with the edge that he has
04:10to deal with that weekend and about how he did last week.
04:13And after the game, win, lose, or draw, good or bad performance.
04:16There weren't that many bad ones.
04:17He's going to stand there and answer all the questions.
04:20I'd put him on a list with guys like Santana Moss or D'Angelo Hall or some others that
04:25I just really genuinely enjoyed that back and forth, that relationship with when you're
04:30covering a team and you've got a real pro that gets it, but who's also a great player,
04:36just an absolute freak.
04:38There are very few guys I've ever covered that are as talented as him.
04:41You mentioned the other tackles in that class.
04:43I think it was probably the easiest decision the Shananns ever had to make because they run
04:47that zone scheme and they wanted a guy out in front of screens.
04:50And I always used to joke that he was the point guard when everyone played pickup basketball,
04:54dunking and going between the legs.
04:56Like, he was the best athlete on the team at times.
04:58So just an all-timer, man.
05:00Yep.
05:00And I'd like to think if he stayed here for his whole career, he would have gotten the
05:05same attention.
05:07Is he a three-time first-team All-Pro right now?
05:09Probably not.
05:11You know, does everyone talk about him as a first-ballot, no-doubt, Hall of Famer?
05:15Maybe not.
05:15But I'm almost glad that he got away and went out west and got to get the flowers that
05:21he deserved.
05:22And by the way, he's about to – he's my age.
05:25Like, we – I think maybe a half year younger than me or something, but he's going into his
05:29age 38 football season.
05:31Like, this guy still does it at arguably the best level of anybody at his position, and
05:36he's closing in on 40 years old, dude.
05:38Yeah.
05:39That's crazy.
05:39It's absolutely crazy.
05:41It's nuts.
05:41I mean, how good and dominant he was.
05:43The stories that I always used to like when you were on the beat and then, you know,
05:46graduated from it to banter with your pal, but the times you'd go, I have no idea how
05:51Trent Williams is going to play this weekend.
05:53Like, he's using a cane on Thursday or Friday he's, you know, in a walking boot or something
05:59like that.
05:59And then there he is.
06:00They would drive him down to the practice field on the back of a cart so he could go
06:04down and just, like, talk to the guys or whatever.
06:07And then you'd see him get helped or, like, be crutched on crutches into the room on a
06:11Thursday.
06:12And on Sunday, he's out there whooping DeMarcus Ware's butt.
06:15Incredible.
06:16Like, how does that happen?
06:16I don't know.
06:17I don't know.
06:18One of my claims to fame, I will tell you, is when training camp was at Bon Cicol down
06:22there in Richmond, Virginia.
06:25We grabbed him when he was coming off the field to do a quick, you know, like three or
06:28four minute interview, whatever.
06:29And I made him chuckle once because he's sitting there like, I don't want to talk to
06:33you.
06:33I'm so hot.
06:34This is our second practice today.
06:35I got a cold tub waiting on me.
06:37Let's go.
06:38And I got him to, like, crack a smile and kind of lower his veneer there for a second
06:42and then just kind of laugh with us.
06:44And it was a lot of fun.
06:45And that actually legitimately felt like an accomplishment.
06:48You know what I mean?
06:48Like, with a guy, he was such a badass, was so tough, so strong, and just doing this because
06:53it's like the obligation.
06:54And then I kind of got him to be on a personal level.
06:57I remember then we went and ate ZZQ, and that's all I wanted to talk about.
07:01And then the ZZQ was there, and I had so many ribs, and it was like, now I'm talking about
07:04that.
07:04But the Trent Williams thing was fun, too.
07:06Dude, he's got one of the best smiles and, like, disarming laughs.
07:09He is.
07:10I love me some Trent Williams.
07:12So kudos to him on a great career.
07:14All right, next on Grant and Danny, we're going to multitask a little bit.
07:17I saw Jeff Passan wrote about the Major League Baseball trade deadline.
07:20There were also three Nats named to the All-May team.
07:22So we can discuss that briefly.
07:24But I want to get into what Myles Garrett said about Laramie Tunsil being one of the
07:28toughest tackles to deal with in all of football.
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