Bruce Allen continues to do Bruce Allen things.
With the relationship between Washington and left tackle Trent Williams fractured, the Washington team president continues to believe that the passage of time will somehow unfracture the relationship, resulting in Williams walking through the door, reporting for duty, and playing for the team.
Adam Schefter of ESPN reports that Washington has told multiple teams that Williams will not be traded. Teams repeatedly have inquired, per Schefter, and teams repeatedly have been rebuffed.
Washington reportedly believes that training-camp fines in the amount of $40,000 per day will result in Williams eventually caving. But Williams isn’t flinching, either; with no intention to ever return to the team (and no game checks from which to withhold the fine amounts), he believes the team will have no way to recover the $40,000 per day.
Signed through 2020, the two remaining years of Williams’ contract will toll if he doesn’t report in time to get credit for 2019. Based on the Joey Galloway arbitration outcome from nearly 20 years ago, Williams needs to be on the 53-man roster for at least eight games to safely qualify.
Two years ago, Texans tackle Duane Brown showed up in time for 2017 contract-year credit, and he was dealt to Seattle before the trade deadline. Whether Williams follows that same path remains to be seen; however, the fact that Williams reportedly believes the team bungled the handling of the benign tumor on his head makes this situation different. Williams hasn’t wavered in his desire to never play for Washington again.
He’s due to make $10.85 million this year, and not playing would expose him to a bonus forfeiture of $1.62 million. And Washington presumably would go after it; when Allen was the G.M. of the Buccaneers, he traded for quarterback Jake Plummer. Plummer retired in lieu of playing for the Bucs, and Allen pursued recovery of signing bonus money that the Bucs hadn’t even paid to Plummer.