When asked about his demands from the 49ers, Williams emphasized, "Just security. Obviously, it's a volatile league. I got my stature, my age. I thought security was important, and that was all."
Williams faced hefty fines during his holdout, totaling millions, but he remained focused on the bigger picture.
"I try not to think about it," Williams said of the fines. "One of the things where you kind of know you're going to leverage. ... For lack of a better word, it's kind of war, where both sides are gonna lose a little blood, but you wave the white flag at the end. We both sign a little peace treaty, and we good."
Williams didn't expect the situation to escalate as it did, but he realized reaching a quick resolution wouldn't be easy.
"Obviously, I didn't think that it would get this drawn out," Williams said. "But it's a tough business and this was a very intricate contract—I wouldn't call it a dispute—but restructure. It took time to get to where both sides feel like it's a win-win.
"We had discussions in minicamp, and I kind of knew that it could draw out a little bit, just because there was other people on the table that, obviously, a lot of pressing needs. Obviously, I didn't think it would go this long, but it is what it is.
"We actually retained a really good rapport during the whole time I was away, kept in contact with [GM] John [Lynch] and [head coach] Kyle [Shanahan], so it was all business. Our friendship, Kyle's like family to me. All that remained the same."
Aiyuk admitted that his ultimate goal throughout the process was to remain with the 49ers.
"Ultimately, I wanted to be in this position right here, right now, standing here, talking to you all. But like I said, every day was different in this negotiation. Every day was different, and just following my heart and myself each day, and that led me here today."
When asked if there was any bad blood between him and the team during the negotiations, the receiver responded, "I'm not gonna lie; I made it a little bit more difficult than I needed to at the end. But, yeah, it was like that for me—I'm not going to say the whole entire time—but for about the past month, I think we were pretty good."
Aiyuk also reflected on the challenges of being around the team while refusing to participate in practices, essentially "holding in" during negotiations.
"It was tough," Aiyuk remarked. "That was probably the hardest part about the whole thing, just because, at that point, you've got the rest of the team involved. I'm here every single day. They're suiting up, getting ready to go out to practice, and I'm not. So that was the hard part.
"But on that same tone, I was able to be in meetings, and be able to go through all the stuff that they got to go through, and kind of still be involved, get used to being here in the morning, being here all day, having the treatment, having everything I need. So it was a little awkward, but I think it worked out how it needed to."
The wide receiver market exploded this offseason, and early on, that impacted the negotiations. However, in the end, it came down to reaching a mutually beneficial agreement.
"Early on, maybe you could say it kind of played a part," Aiyuk said, "but as we got deeper into the offseason, we knew where we were at. Both sides knew where we were at, and it was just a matter of getting there."
Williams is 36 years old and aware there are fewer NFL days ahead than behind him. However, the offensive lineman isn't ready to consider retirement just yet.
"I'm going to play as long as I can, as long as I feel like I'm a productive player," Williams said. "As long as I feel like I have something to offer, I'm going to want to play football. That's all I've done since the second grade. But like you mentioned, Father Time is undefeated from what we've seen."
Williams prefers to focus on today and proving his worth each season. This new deal was a reflection of that.
"Who knows if you get compensated at the top of your position at the age of 40?" Williams continued. "But I don't think that matters to me if I could still be out there. I just want to continue to knock barriers down. And I know at my age, there's not been a lot of people to play at an All-Pro level outside of a quarterback. And I just want to continue to bust those barriers."
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