SANTA CLARA, California. – After more than 570 days since he last played, San Francisco 49ers abandoned approach Trent Williams went into training camp as the rare seven-time Pro Bowler who actually wishes there were preseason games to play.
Since then, Williams has ruled herself out for the next best thing in his first season with the Niners: daily matchups against defensive end Nick Bosa, the reigning NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year.
Williams has left those field battles overwhelmingly impressed with Bosa. In fact, Williams believes that Bosa has the makings of a very large one.
“He’s better than I even thought he was – and I already knew he was top three, four in the game,” Williams said Saturday. “But just going up against him every day, seeing how smart he is, seeing how hard he works and just seeing how seriously he takes the game, I honestly see his trajectory as one of the best in the game.”
That’s really high praise for Bosa, who bursts onto the scene after being selected with the No. 2 overall pick in the 2019 NFL draft. In his lone NFL season, Bosa finished with nine sacks, was second in the NFL with 80 quarterback pressure, according to Pro Football Focus, and he found himself ranked as the 17th best player in the league as voted by his peers.
That all happened in a season in which Williams stayed away from football and his place as Washington’s leftist approach, as he waited for a trade dispute over the handling of his injury problems and his contract.
Williams said he could see how gifted Bosa was, seen from afar. But it was not until the duo began to square in this training camp that he began to have a better understanding of Bosa’s ultimate ceiling.
“When all is said and done, I think, if you say who’s the best pass-rusher / around D-end, I think Nick Bosa’s name will probably be the first name that comes out of a lot of mouths of people coming, ”Williams said. “And it’s a blessing to me, because I can serve against him every day. We’re able to talk, kind of walk each other through how we think, and it’s been a great help to me. I could ” has planned a better camp for learning and resting. ‘
Indeed, the Bosup-Williams matchup has been the must-see event of the 49ers’ training camp through the first week. Whether it’s one-on-one in individual pass rush drills or head-to-head goes into team drills, Bosa and Williams have offered their own version of a heavyweight fight every day.
“It’s been really cool to watch,” said 49yle coach Kyle Shanahan. “You have two extremely talented guys, but the cool thing about them is that you have two guys who really understand their technique and position. Trent, with the years he’s been in the league, with his talent; and Nick “I understand technique, I’m always kidding because he came out of the womb, because he made the passerby. That seeing those two together is pretty cool.”
More often than not, Williams does not seem to come out on top, but Bosa, who did not practice on Saturday with what Shanahan called a ‘maintenance day’, consistently gives him everything he can handle.
And, because Williams offered high praise for Bosa, Bosa returned the advantage earlier in the week.
“For me, against Trent, just trying to win what I can,” Bosa said. “I try to split them. At least they split – one win, one loss; that’s what I’re hoping for. You will not beat Trent very often, so a clean win on him is a good feeling.”
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