Trent Williams blames Bruce Allen for media leaks; Redskins elect not to pay him for this season

7The saga continues. Trent Williams held out since June due to his medical treatment for a cancerous growth that was removed from his scalp this year. Williams reportedly requested a trade after the team wouldn’t extend his contract. The team and Williams camp have been lobbing shots at each other, and leaking stories to the media.

Williams reported to the Redskins when the team failed to trade him by the deadline so that he could accrue a season and get closer to free agency. He failed his physical when he experienced discomfort putting his helmet on his head. The Redskins got a two week roster exemption when he returned. The team requested a medical review, but Williams told the NFLPA he would not be participating in it. They placed him on the Reserve/NFI list yesterday, ending his season.

Williams spoke to former Redskins beat reporter Mike Jones, and offered some new insight into his situation.

Medical Review:

“If I felt like they were genuine, I’d be all for it. 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 (quarterback) Colt (McCoy’s) case? 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.”

Growth removal timeline:

Williams said in 2016, three years after he claimed he first raised the issue, he asked team doctors to send him to a dermatologist but was again told that the growth was a cyst. In 2017, he said, he asked doctors while scheduling knee surgery if they could remove the growth since he would be sedated, but “they said it wasn’t that serious.” The following year, he again asked about the removal of the growth during two separate procedures (one on his thumb and another on his knee), he said, but was told to wait for the offseason.

Bruce Allen:

Williams told USA TODAY Sports the dismissive nature with which Allen reacted to the matter soured him on the franchise. Although Snyder, himself a cancer survivor, had been supportive, Allen’s response and the team doctors’ misdiagnosis — coupled with a long track record of medical mishaps, including repeated setbacks and post-surgery infections and/or corrective surgeries of McCoy, quarterback Alex Smith and running back Derrius Guice — prompted Williams to request a trade.

Williams said he believes Allen was behind the many media reports that linked his dissatisfaction with the team to his contract status while downplaying the medical concerns or pinning blame on him for missteps. When former Redskins general manager and current NFL Network analyst Charley Casserly relayed the same school of thinking last week, Williams’ frustrations were renewed.

“They started putting poison pills out there, that it was just about the money,” Williams said. “The talk about me missing appointments? I’ll tell you what it was. It was scheduled for a Thursday, and I went on a Friday. I just had gotten it off by a day, one time.”

Burned bridges:

“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.”

“I felt like things could have been resolved, but then the Redskins resorted to the blame game,” he said. “I stayed quiet about the situation because I want to maintain that level of respect. But there were some details coming out that only a couple people knew.”

“I feel like everything has run its course,” he 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 (cover your ass).”

Craig Hoffman also spoke to Trent Williams, and has posted another must-read story on the entire situation.

The Redskins just made official what everyone expected to happen when they placed Trent Williams on the Reserve/NFI list yesterday. They have elected to not pay the remaining balance of his $5.1 million base salary for the 2019 season. The Redskins ended his season, and could still try to have his contract toll, but that isn’t expected to hold up. Now the Redskins will have to wait until the offseason to attempt to trade their disgruntled left tackle.

This is a voluntary decision, within Washington’s rights, but not how other teams have operated. Other notable players on the NFI list this season have included Tampa Bay Buccaneers defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul and Los Angeles Chargers offensive tackle Russell Okung, but each were paid roughly 35-40 percent of their salaries while unable to be on the field.

When asked Friday afternoon by ESPN’s John Keim if he was disappointed or surprised by the Redskins’ decision, Williams said it was combination of the two.

”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.”

Williams is unsure of what his next step is, however.

”I don’t know what options I have, I will probably lean on the [players’ association] for that,” Williams said. “I don’t know much more about it.”