Redskins off-field updates from the bye week in Week 11

Trent Williams situation develops

Over the bye week, the Trent Williams situation flared. The Redskins made the decision to place him on the NFI list, and then, as ESPN’s Field Yates confirmed, they elected not to pay Williams remaining 2019 salary of $5.1 million. Williams also ended his silence, and spoke about his experience with Washington in an interview by D.C. sports reporter Craig Hoffman.

The Trent Williams situation reeks of spite and contempt, primarily from Bruce Allen’s side; Williams’ holdout initially stemmed from the front office’s lack of interest or empathy for Williams’ situation, and the team’s decision to prevent him from earning his final $5.1 million is an extension of that spiteful behavior.

As J.P. Finlay of NBC Sports Washington noted, the Redskins can make the fight even bigger, by contending that Williams should not have accrued a season in 2019, thus bumping the final year of his contract back to 2021. If that were to happen, Finlay says, there would be pushback from Williams and the NFLPA. The Redskins aren’t even prioritizing trade compensation at this point. It’s a “If you won’t play for us, you won’t play for anybody” type deal, and it’s only getting worse.

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Williams declined to permit a third-party review of the team’s handling of his medical situation, stating that, per the Yates article, “there was nothing in it for me”. Williams said that if the Redskins found any whiff of wrongdoing on his part, they would brush him aside and put the matter to rest. Williams is confident that the review wouldn’t even be needed, and stated that the Redskins have botched many injuries besides his in recent history.

Per Yates, Williams was frequently told that the growth on his head was a simple cyst, over a period of five years. Subsequently, he trusted the doctors, focused on football’s hectic lifestyle, and let it go, until it became too big for him to maintain comfort. He went to get it removed as a cosmetic procedure, and then learned that the growth was cancerous.

Dan Snyder recommended an oncologist for Williams to see in Chicago, and there, he underwent a procedure. As of now, per Yates, Williams still doesn’t have feeling in around half of his scalp area, and the nerves are still in the process of calming down. These details help shed light on the discomfort that caused him to fail his physical.

In his interview with Craig Hoffman, Williams said that, at one point, doctors were telling Williams he might not have long to live, and that at that time, Dan Snyder “stepped up” and helped him with the situation. For that reason, Williams holds no contempt toward Snyder. He does, however, feel a distrust toward Bruce Allen and the team’s medical staff, and he feels that the bridge is burned for good.

Williams also adressed Charley Casserly’s claims that Williams missed an appointment in the Hoffman interview. Williams acknowledged that he missed an appointment by one day, but that he and the doctor in question rescheduled and nothing more came of it.

There’s also an indirect quote from Bruce Allen himself, who remarked how Trent Williams wouldn’t be able to pass a physical if he was traded. This isn’t entirely accurate; as Hoffman notes, there’s not set checklist for a physical, and teams can essentially pass or fail players at will. Additionally, a team that traded for Williams would likely be more motivated to find a helmet that suits his needs.

Overall, the Williams situation is a mess, and it’s still very far from settled. Neither side is entirely without blame, but Williams’ errors are more understandable. The Redskins, however, don’t come out of this looking very good. The fight will continue in the coming months, as both sides will be grappling with the other’s version of reality.