49ers Talk: Trent Williams is the GOAT offensive tackle, per Andrew Whitworth

On "49ers Talk," NBC Sports Bay Area's Matt Maiocco talks with ex-Rams OT Andrew Whitworth at the American Century Championship in South Lake Tahoe.

49ers Talk: Trent Williams is the GOAT offensive tackle, per Andrew Whitworth originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

View More

Video Transcript

All right, we are at the American Century Championship at Edgewood Tahoe Golf Tournament, joined by Andrew Whitworth of Amazon Prime Video, NFL analyst, and a former player, of course, for the Rams and in the NFC West.

And what do you make of the NFC West heading into this season?

Man, I You know, unbelievable.

I can remember last year we had Rams-Niners in SoFi, you know, and the Niners had an unbelievable showing in that game.

Crazy ending to that one.

And I remember that post-game desk being like, "I'm not sure that the Niners, Seahawks, and Rams aren't the three best teams in the NFL."

And, and I think I said one of these three teams will definitely be in the NFC championship.

I think as the year went on, you knew, you know, with the injuries the Niners had, the Seahawks and Rams, one of these two teams is gonna represent in the Super Bowl.

And this year, Lord, I, I think both, all of them are gonna be even better.

I mean, I think we're gonna see an improved Arizona team as well.

So I, I think the NFC West, man, you know, it's gonna be kind of one of those problems the AFC North had couple those years where you're just beating up on each other a little bit, because there's, there's a lot of talent and, and some great coaches in that division.

I- If you were Trent Williams or just any offensive coach for the 49ers, any offensive player, and you see that the Rams acquire Myles Garrett, what would you be thinking?

Well, I mean that, and you think of how good Seattle's defense was last year.

You're probably saying, "Gosh, I mean, there's two games now, you know, a year in our division where it's gonna be home and away.

We're gonna end up with four games that we're playing against two of the best defenses in the NFL."

'Cause I mean, I would imagine Seattle's gonna be really good again on defense.

And then you look at what the Rams have done, you know, with Myles Garrett, you know, being a big headline of it.

But let's not forget about the corners.

Yeah.

I mean, they went in, in free agency, you know, and get Jalen, and then you go and, and, and trade for Trent.

I mean, I, I think that when you look at this defense, people kind of forget they, shored up the outside secondary part of it, which is the part that got criticized- Right a lot before any of this happened.

And then they go out, add one of the best players in the world in Myles Garrett, and then you might possibly get the in- the interest of an Aaron Donald who might wanna come back, too.

Do you really think that's could happen?

Uh- Will happen?

I think you could see it happen.

I think in this day and age, where the game is, where honestly health and fitness and wellness is, I mean, you look at it, AD's much like myself, I mean, training all the time.

He d- That doesn't really change for him.

That's, that's the life he always chose to be.

That's why he was such an elite player is, is when you talked about his consistency and who he was week in and week out, that was started with his off-seasons were built that way.

And so I have zero doubt this dude's in insane shape- Mm-hmm shape year around.

It's just gonna be for him, AD's also somebody that why he was what he was is nothing he does is not in a way of excellence.

Right.

And he's not gonna come halfway this thing.

Right.

He's not gonna come in and go, "Oh man, you just play here or there, when we need you."

Like, he won't do that.

That won't be the life he'll live.

So he's gonna wanna be a part of this thing and a reason they win.

And, and a byproduct of the effort and the energy and the excellence in the way he lives will be that they'll have success.

He won't sign up just because he thinks they'll win.

Right.

He won't sign up 'cause he thinks he'll make more money.

He'll sign up 'cause he wants to show people he's still one of the best in the world.

And if anything, knowing him, "I'm even better than Myles Garrett."

You know, like I could see him having- Right that mindset 'cause that's kind of how he is.

So, man, it would be scary if he gets there.

But I think he's gonna take this month, you know, I've talked to him plenty, work out, train, and see if the itch comes, you know?

And that's just the reality.

Like you gotta find out if that passion's still there.

God, you know, he's, you know him obviously.

I don't, but I, I just thought like if it works, if it, if it's something that he would do, it'd probably be later in the season, November, kind of see if it makes sense at that point.

But you think if he's in, he's in?

Well, I think the timing of it could change because it's just really when does he hit the point where his body he thinks is ready to go?

Because my biggest fears for him would not be can he still be good?

It would not be, you know, is Aaron Donald gonna still have some of the talents and abilities and the work ethic?

I got zero concern about that.

But has the body done explosive things, run people forget, like part of this game is a, a bunch of 300-pound ch, huge, powerful men running into each other constantly.

Yeah.

So has the body been under that?

I mean, there is a truth to some of the impact you've been through, some of the, you know, just over time wear and tear.

You've kind of built a normalcy to it.

And then when you stop, you lose some of that, right?

Mm-hmm.

And so, you know, is his body prepped and ready?

So there may be a time of training to get ready, and then there may be a time of, "All right, how do we acclimate to being back to football life a little bit?"

Yeah.

Like, "Maybe I wanna practice and compete a little and feel some of that before I start thinking about what I'm getting on the field."

Yeah.

You know?

And so I think that'll be the interesting part.

You know, through the years when, when Aaron Donald in- was going up against Kyle Shanahan's offense, it seemed like the 49ers didn't stop him, not even close.

But they somewhat contain He wasn't wrecking games, and it's because i- it seemed like 49ers were able to kind of really focus in on him.

But how difficult is it for an offensive mind to take multiple defensive linemen out of the game?

I mean, that seems almost impossible.

Yeah, I think the challenge, you know, when you play a Kyle Shanahan or Sean McVay or any of these, Kevin O'Connell, some of these great, OCs, Sean Peyton even, that just know how to build a game plan behind, "We're not gonna let this guy- Yeah wreck our game plan," a lot of what they do is gonna be predicated off of you will not be the person who stops them, right?

Now, they may get stopped because they literally just focused on stopping you, and they put themselves in some tougher positions, and some other people had to win that didn't, but they're not gonna get beat by you in any way possible they can control.

And so I think that's the other part that I think would probably pique AD's interest even more- Right is that we- people forget, his last couple years in the league, he's getting doubled, tripled.

Yeah.

You listen to Jason Kelce talk about when the Eagles would play him, like, "Hey, no matter what, any play we had, I was going and doubling AD with the guard.

Like who- whatever guard had him, I'm, whatever we do, we could care less what happens outside of that.

We're making sure he gets two, you know, four hands put on him."

And so that was the world he lived in, which also I think led to him retiring early.

Yeah.

Because you get frustrated.

Like you just don't ever get a chance to just play mano y mano.

When you play with Myles Garrett- How you have to stop edge rushers is you've gotta apply some kind of edge force guy who's gonna chip him, distract him, slide to him, a lot of these things.

Well, if you start to live in a world where you go, "Hey, we might separate these two," and one goes on one side and one goes on the other, and now these slides, this extra guy, there's only five linemen and there's four D linemen or sometimes five D linemen.

So the reality is, is the slides can't go there anymore, and so how do you allocate guys to help?

And so I th- think that that's probably what has AD and Myles both excited if this really happened, because it's like, all right, one of us is getting a whole lot more one-on-ones than we've ever gotten in our career.

Yeah.

Which really puts them in a position to be even more successful.

Y- y- you were one of the great tackles.

I, I would love to get your perspective on this, because in the Bay Area, a lot of people are, you know, complain every year around the draft, 49ers need to take an offensive lineman in the first round or second round.

They need to bulk up that, that offensive line.

They, they rarely do.

They, they, they put their resources in other spots.

What, what do you feel about the philosophy of how the 49ers have built their offensive line, and is it the right approach?

I- is the offensive line a, i- is it a, a, a plus or a minus when it comes to the 49ers?

Well, I think tackle's a tough one.

I think there's a lot of coaches, a lot of GMs and, and scouts and everything else out there that I, I don't know if they understand the position as well as maybe they think they do.

And, and so I think that's a tough position.

I think that you, you have to have some rare traits to be really good at it, and that's why I think every year there's a couple just primo guys, that if you don't get one of them, you're kinda guessing a little bit and you're hoping that there's some development things that happen.

I think that, you know, what I would say is, is you look how successful the 49ers have been on offense.

It hasn't slowed them down that much.

Now, part of that is 'cause they've had, in m- arguably what I would consider, in my opinion, the greatest of all time in Trent Williams as their left tackle.

But when he's gone, like, we are gonna have to draft a guy.

Yeah.

Like, we're gonna have to develop some young guys that become elite guys if we wanna continue to have success, because a lot of their offensive success has been built around Trent, and you look at their team when he's not in there, there's a huge difference in falloff in their production offensively.

Yeah.

So I, I think to me, it does scream that maybe they just don't have a lot of confidence in their ability to select the right one.

Yeah.

Because I think this is the problem with offensive line.

When you're gonna allocate a first-round pick or a second-round pick to an offensive lineman, a lot of people love that theory, but you better be damn good- Yeah at picking it, because when you hit on offensive lineman, it could be unbelievable for your franchise early in the draft.

Mm-hmm.

Because a great offensive line, a great D line is the story, right, to successful football teams.

But when you miss on a high pick like that, a skill player that's okay can still get you plenty of reps, plenty of ball.

You know, they're gonna catch footballs.

Yeah.

They may not be somebody you sign back, but they're gonna be productive for you.

You draft an unproductive lineman, you are cooked, because now you're getting a second, third, fourth-tier lineman who's gonna have to play because the money you allocated to this guy is worthless.

Yeah.

And your, now your team is gonna struggle 'cause you're not gonna get quality reps out of a guy.

So you can both shoot your team forward and really set yourself back when you miss on offensive linemen.

Did you say that Trent Williams is the best tackle of all time?

In my opinion, I think he is.

Right, wh- and why do you say that?

And, and listen, I was- I mean, there's a lot of great ones.

There's a lot of great ones.

I mean, I think Ani- Anthony Munoz would be, you know, probably the guy that most people would circle as the greatest of all time, really just because he was ahead of his time, you know, for a lot of reasons.

The athlete he was, the player he was, how consistent he was, what an unbelievable human, everything.

I Listen, he's a mentor of mine, so I- I say that with a lot of, like, love and appreciation and respect for Anthony Munoz.

But I think when you look at what Trent Williams has done, the length of his career, the, the Pro Bowls he's been a part of, the All-Pros, everything, and then you go, all right, if I had to say the run game, pass protection, out in space on screens, the guy's a human highlight reel in every aspect.

And, like, I don't know how many linemen you'd say fit every one of those descriptions the way he does.

Walter Jones was a really special one in that sense, right?

There's some great players, but if you said all the different aspects of what it is to be a lineman, and be a really good one, he's in the top elite portion of every one of those groups.

And there's a lot of those guys that might be regarded as great all-time guys who I wouldn't say were elite at all those different things.

He is elite at every single one of those, and now you're adding longevity on top of that.

So now we've got longevity and elite in every single category.

To me, that makes you the greatest of all time.

That's a convincing argument.

Okay, so you don't see the 49ers until week 15.

Yeah.

49ers and Chargers.

Mm-hmm.

So when that game rolls around, what are you expecting?

Man, I Listen, I'm looking forward, 'cause I'm excited about the Chargers too.

So I, l- I love Kyle Shanahan.

He's a, he's a friend and, and somebody I got a ton of respect for, him and John Lynch.

So I, I can't wait to watch their team.

Kittle's a good buddy.

So listen, I love the energy and passion that that dude brings.

Yeah.

I mean, Kittle's gotta be one of the mo- one of my favorite NFL players ever.

Yeah.

Just the energy, the passion he brings every week, regardless of how good he is.

The, the positivity and just energy that comes from that dude every time you're around him, you can see why their huddle's different for guys like that.

And so, I'm excited about where the 49ers will be, but I, I'm really too I mean, my boy Raheem Morris there on defense.

Mm-hmm.

I'm excited to see what he can do with them and, and what that relationship looks like.

Well, what do you expect him to do?

Well, I'm, I'm hoping he's gonna do great.

I mean, I think you look at Raheem and Sean and how they were together, I think Kyle and, and Raheem will be that way too, be able to lean on each other.

There's already a relationship.

I think that helps a ton.

I think people forget sometimes that relationship between the play callers on both sides of the football, the head coach too, like, in the sense of, like, how they can kinda, "Hey, I'm gonna challenge you in practice with this.

I want you to challenge me with that."

Like, their ability to play off each other will put their team in a position to be r- prepared better.

But also the Chargers, like, I'm excited to see McDaniels.

I, I, I really wanna see where does Herbert and him go together, and, like, how does that ma- marry up?

That really I wouldn't really say that what Justin Herbert's done great in the first few years really marries exactly with what he's Like, you looked at Tua's time in Miami, like, the kinda scheme that he did.

So it's like, can he come a little bit Mike's way, and can Mike come a little bit his way?

Yeah.

And the run game's gonna help him a ton.

Like, I'm excited to see, you know, Harbaugh mix with the new age version of the run game and Mike.

Like, what will they be able to do, and the emphasis that'll go into it?

I'm excited to see where this Chargers offense goes.

Yeah.

Well, Andrew, hey, thank you so much.

Have a fun time on the course, and have a great season.

Hey, appreciate it, brother.

Thank you very much.

Close