Washington Redskins left tackle Trent Williams has now come out and denied the report that he nixed a trade offer that would send him to the Minnesota Vikings in a deal on Friday, saying that it is “not true,” according to ESPN’s John Keim.
In an article on Saturday morning, Keim broke down the most recent development in the Williams saga as such:
However, sources confirmed to ESPN that the potential trade partners were informed at some point Friday that Williams did not want to play for the Vikings, as was first reported by NFL Network.
A source told ESPN that the Vikings had been among the preferred destinations for Williams and that the teams had discussed a deal for more than a month. But they did not come close to anything until Friday morning, when Minnesota increased its offer to include a second Day 3 draft pick, sources said. The Vikings had previously offered one pick on the third day.
According to Keim, the Vikings finally offered a second Day 3 draft pick in return for Williams, which is something that would have likely forced the Redskins to accept the deal, as they hadn’t received any better offer as of yet. This is when Williams reportedly ended the talks, saying he didn’t want to play in Minnesota.
Regardless of whose side of the story you believe, it is clear that Williams is not going to Minnesota now, and his only trade landing spots left are the San Francisco 49ers and the Los Angeles Rams, though both teams have an extremely limited interest at best.
Stay tuned as this saga continues to develop through Day 3 of the draft.
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