As dollars go, the Trent Williams holdout was a wash, at best.
His new numbers reveal an increase of roughly $5 million over the next three years, with many of his millions now guaranteed. His holdout ultimately cost more than $5 million, and none of the fines can be waived.
Washington traded Williams to the 49ers in 2020. When his contract expired, Williams became an unrestricted free agent. He re-signed with the 49ers as an unrestricted free agent. And that’s an important point, given the portion of the CBA that imposes a non-waivable fine of $50,000 for each day of camp missed plus a non-waivable fine of one regular-season game check for each preseason game missed.
For the 49ers, veterans reported on July 23. The $50,000 daily fines lasted, per the CBA, until the Sunday before the start of the regular season. That’s 40 days, and $2 million in fines.
Three of those days included preseason games. At a prior base salary of $20.05 million, Williams lost $1.113 million for each preseason game he missed. The total fine for missing three preseason games becomes $3.34 million.
“For the avoidance of doubt, any such fines shall be mandatory, and shall not be reduced in amount or waived by the Club, in whole or in part, but must be paid by the player or deducted by the Club as provided in Section 5(b) of this Article,” the relevant portion of the CBA explains.
So that’s $5.34 million, which must be collected and can’t be waived. If the specific increase in his new deal lands at or near $5 million, the holdout would have still cost Williams more than $300,000.