Trent Williams will not get his salary for the 2019 season. According to ESPN, the Washington Redskins have elected to not pay the remaining of William’s $5.1 million salary for this season after placing him on the non-football injury list. The Redskins have the right to do this, but it’s unusual for a team to not play a player when the designate him on the list.
The Redskins did pay Williams last week when he returned to the team after holding out. One of the big reasons Williams was holding out was the fact he did not trust the medical staff and organization due to his misdiagnosis of cancer. He told reporters last week, “It was cancer. I had cancer. I had a tumor removed from my skull, attached to my skull. It got pretty serious for a second. I was told some scary things from the doctor. It was definitely nothing to play with, one of the things that changed my outlook on life.”
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Williams, who was diagnosed with a form of cancer known as dermatofibrosarcoma protuberans (DFSP), went on to say he had surgery and he needed 350 stitches and 75 staples for his head.
“We literally caught it within weeks of metastasizing through to my brain, to my skull,” Williams said. “Extracting it was the only thing they could do. Doing radiology on it would have put a cap on my life. I think 15 years was the most I would have had after I started chemo. So I had to cut it out.”
Once the news broke of Williams not getting paid by the Redskins, Twitter was not happy. Adam Lefkoe of Bleacher Report wrote, Trent Williams is the LONGEST tenured player on the team… He’s made 7 STRAIGHT Pro Bowls… He’s played through COUNTLESS injuries and NEVER complained… If Washington will treat HIM like this…how do they treat the other 52?”
Former NFL offensive lineman Mark Schlereth wrote, “No clue why the Skins can’t build a winning team!”
And NFL blogger Lindsey Ok wrote, “How does anyone root for this clown show?”
As for Williams, he’s disappointed with the decision, but he’s not too surprised by it either.
“I mean, it’s a little bit of both,” Williams said. “You expect it, and it’s still disappointing. It is what it is. That’s their option.”
