Washington Redskins GM Bruce Allen believes Trent Williams will return to the team

Washington Redskins offensive tackle Trent Williams has been absent from team activities for months, first skipping a mandatory mini-camp and following that up with a holdout during the team's full-fledged training camp. The veteran reportedly vowed never to play for the organization again back in June and, since then, rumblings have emerged that Williams has no plans to end his hiatus. However, a high-ranking member of the Redskins organization sees the situation differently and the contrast is, at the very least, quite interesting. 

Redskins executive vice president and general manager Bruce Allen spoke to Sheree Burruss of NBC4 about the situation with Williams and, at the outset, he indicated a belief that Williams isn't going to retire from the NFL. 

"Well I think Trent is going to play football, yes," Allen said. "We had a surprising retirement this week in the NFL. I don't see Trent retiring." 

From there, Allen was prompted with a follow-up on where he thinks Williams will be playing and, immediately, he declared that "it'll be with us."

The second statement is far more surprising than the first, particularly amid rumors that the Redskins have at least discussed Williams in trade scenarios. The 31-year-old left tackle would be in high demand for teams looking to contend for this year's Super Bowl and, even without the murmurs of Williams' discontent in Washington, it would make more sense for a veteran of his caliber to play elsewhere than for a team facing 300-1 odds to take home the Lombardi Trophy. 

At present, the only thing that is definite in this situation is that Williams is holding out and Washington is likely to face Philadelphia (as an 8.5-point road underdog) in Week 1 without him. The ultimate result of the stand-off will be intriguing but the two sides are seemingly in different places at this moment.