Trent Williams didn’t need long to process the Myles Garrett trade. Two words covered it. The All-Pro left tackle delivered his verdict Wednesday during 49ers OTA media availability and every offensive lineman in the NFC West was probably thinking the same thing.
Trent Williams Breaks Down the Reality of the Rams’ Move
Williams was standing in front of reporters at the 49ers’ OTA facility on Thursday, June 4, when someone asked for his live reaction to the Rams blockbuster deal. He didn’t reach for diplomacy.
“Same as everybody,” Williams said with a laugh. “Everybody who’s not in Rams country. Yeah, I mean, it sucks.”
That two-word summary captured what most of the league felt when Los Angeles finalized the trade for Myles Garrett, acquiring the two-time NFL Defensive Player of the Year from the Cleveland Browns. The Rams surrendered a package centered on defensive end Jared Verse alongside a 2027 first-round pick, a 2028 second-round pick, and a 2029 third-rounder to land the most disruptive edge rusher in football.
Williams, 37 and turning 38 in July, will carry the primary responsibility of handling Garrett when the two clubs meet. Their Garrett-Williams matchup history is short, with just two career meetings but neither encounter went smoothly for the 49ers’ offensive line. According to Pro Football Focus, Garrett posted a 31% pass-rush win rate against Williams in their 2023 meeting. In 2025, he recorded a sack, four pressures, and a 36% win rate in the same matchup, per Pro Football Focus.
The numbers tell one story. Williams’ actual concern runs deeper. He doesn’t believe Garrett at 30 years old has reached his ceiling and that’s the part that keeps him honest.
“The scary part is he’s still a young player, so he’s still going to get better,” Williams told reporters Wednesday at 49ers OTAs. “I know it’s scary after seeing what he did last year. I’m never expecting to run into the same player. I know that we see him in Week 1 in Australia. He probably will be a little bit better than he was the last time I saw him.”
Last year refers to a 2025 campaign in which Garrett reportedly set an NFL single-season record with 23 sacks, a figure consistent across all competitor reports, though sportda.com has not independently verified that record against Pro Football Reference’s historical database. Readers should treat that specific mark as attributed to reporting at the time of publication.
Williams, listed among the oldest active players in football at 37, didn’t finish with any false bravado. He widened the frame instead.
“Just got to buckle up,” Williams said. “It’s going to be tough. I’m not the only one that’s got to block him. There are 31 other teams that got that same news, so it is what it is.”
The 49ers-Rams rivalry already ranked among the most physically demanding matchups on the NFC calendar. Garrett inside that division changes the math for every offensive line coach preparing a scheme.
He wasn’t alone in his reaction. Tight end George Kittle paused for a few seconds before offering a careful “good for them.” Quarterback Mac Jones admitted that his first instinct when he saw the trade announced on social media was to think it was AI-generated. Jones confirmed he’s staying focused inward but conceded, “It doesn’t make it easy, for sure.”
The Rams now carry the reigning league MVP in Matthew Stafford alongside the reigning Defensive Player of the Year, a combination detailed further in this report on the Rams being the first team with a reigning MVP QB and a reigning Defensive Player of the Year. That roster construction, already formidable after a 12-5 regular season in 2025, placed a direct burden on the 49ers’ offensive line heading into the summer.
Chris Foerster Immediately Dives Back into the Film
The Chris Foerster film study began the morning after the trade broke. The 49ers’ assistant head coach and offensive line coach confirmed at OTAs that the Garrett news hit his phone and immediately redirected his day.
Foerster laughed when asked if he pulled up tape right away and then confirmed he did exactly that. Because San Francisco doesn’t play Cleveland on an annual basis under the current scheduling rotation, his recent Garrett film library was thin. The trade forced an immediate reset.
Foerster framed the NFC West defensive line arms race as a permanent feature of coaching in this division, not a new development. Every rival program presents elite pass-rush challenges, whether from interior disruption or edge rushers working at the highest level. Garrett, in his view, represents the latest premium problem in a division that has never offered easy answers along the offensive front.
The 49ers will see him soon. The 49ers-Rams opener, part of San Francisco’s two international games in 2026, including Australia and Mexico City, takes place September 10 at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, marking the first NFL regular-season game played on Australian soil. The Week 14 rematch follows at Levi’s Stadium.
That NFL international game gives the 49ers coaching staff a compressed timeline. Mandatory minicamp was canceled, pushing the next formal evaluation window to late July training camp. Foerster now has roughly six weeks before pads go on and a full offseason to solve a problem that has no clean answer.
The Los Angeles Rams’ new uniforms for the 2026 season will debut on that Melbourne stage, and Garrett will be wearing them. Williams already knows what that means for his September.
Among the 32 NFL teams entering the 2026 season, none faces a more immediate schematic challenge from the Myles Garrett trade than San Francisco. Foerster is already at the film room. Williams is already buckling up. September 10 comes regardless.
