Trent Williams Says “Bridge Has Definitely Been Burned” With Redskins

On Thursday, the Redskins officially placed LT Trent Williams on the reserve/non-football injury list, which ends his season and sets up for a potential battle over the money the roughly $6 million left of his salary he’s owed. 

Williams tells Mike Jones of USA Today that the “bridge has definitely been burned” between him and the Redskins. 

“I feel like everything has run its course,” Williams said. “I mean, I do want to play football still and I’m not a free agent until after the 2020 season, so who knows. But the bridge has definitely been burned, and any efforts now, basically are, in my opinion, pretty much just CYA.”

After Williams spoke to reporters and detailed what happened with the tumor on his head, the Redskins called for an independent investigation into the matter. 

However, Williams believes Washington is just “doing it to cover their butts.”

“If I felt like they were genuine, I’d be all for it,” Williams said. “They’re not doing it to find out what went wrong. They’re doing it to cover their butts.

“Mine isn’t the only situation they got wrong. There are a lot of situations they could have looked into. Why didn’t they do it before now? Why didn’t they do it in Colt [McCoy’s] case? [McCoy needed multiple surgeries to repair his broken leg] And they keep putting out these false reports. That’s never helpful. I just feel like regardless of what the findings of the investigation are, they’re going to try to find a way to paint me negatively and make themselves look better.”

Williams also believes the team leaked stories about him in an attempt to make him look greedy. 

“I had a lot of anger about my situation,” Williams said. “I felt like they could have worked something out if they really wanted me. But the breaking point was how things played out with my health and how I felt like I was mistreated. I put this organization first for so long, but they never took it seriously, and I do stand for something, and I felt like it’s not just a stand for me, but for future players as well. Because let’s be honest, they’ve got a bad track record.”

Williams reported to the team a few weeks ago but failed a physical due to discomfort from wearing his helmet. 

Reports have said that Washington is expected to make Williams available for trade again next year. 

Williams, 31, is a former first-round pick of the Redskins back in 2010. He currently in the fourth year of his five-year, $66 million contract that includes $43.25 million guaranteed and stands to make base salaries of $11 million and $12.5 million over the next two years of the agreement.

In 2018, Williams started 13 games for the Redskins.  Pro Football Focus rated Williams as the No. 21 tackle out of 80 qualifying players.