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Trent Williams won't rule out playing long enough to make 49ers' 10-year wall
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- Trent Williams won't rule out playing long enough to make 49ers' 10-year wall
Trent Williams won't rule out playing long enough to make 49ers' 10-year wall originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
SANTA CLARA — In his 17th NFL season and seventh with the 49ers, Trent Williams seems to have found the fountain of youth.
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After considering when to hang up his cleats more than once, in order to spend more time with his family, the All-Pro might have a new lease on life influenced by his eldest daughter, Micah.
"I learned to just shut up and let it go," Williams told NBC Sports Bay Area. "[Micah]'s like, I'm living a dream. Why would I cut it off? Why would I wake up if I don't have to?"
"God has blessed me and as long as he gives me the strength and the ability to do it at a high level, I don't want to be doing myself a disservice if I didn't maximize everything I was blessed with."
The 12-time Pro Bowl left tackle did not miss a single training camp practice this season, which appears to be paying off on the field. Coach Kyle Shanahan helped influence his decision to change his routine.
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"A couple years ago, he just pulled me to the side and just kind of introduced me to the other side of it," Williams said. "Just being trying to be a healthy adult, just a healthy person in general and introduced me to some people that really opened my eyes to certain things.
"I do think that that had a lot to do with my overall health and how I felt. I do think that that plays a part."
Not that Williams didn't take care of himself, but at 38 years old, it was time to take advantage of every resource possible, which meant talking to 49ers vice president of player health and performance Dustin Perry.
Williams previously had the belief that taking vet days off throughout camp was the way to stay fresh enough to make it through a grueling 17-game season. This season, for the first time since joining the 49ers in 2020, Williams has let Perry and the 49ers have full control of his offseason schedule, which meant not missing a single training camp practice.
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"I think that had a lot to do with just me getting into my rhythm as far as playing," Williams said. "I think it helped me get there sooner and stay more consistent. Last year, I got there really quick and I just tapered back far too much so when the season started, I still had to knock some rust off. I learned from that mistake, was able to do things a little differently."
Williams also credits offensive line coach Chris Foerster for his success through the team's first six games. The two have worked together for the better part of the lineman's 17 seasons, starting in Washington when the Oklahoma product was drafted in 2012.
"He literally taught me everything I know about the pro game," Williams said. "When I think about playing O-line, that's who I think about. It's where I gained everything I know today, 95 percent of it came from Chris."
Foerster remembers being asked his opinion of Williams during the pre-draft process and immediately knew how unique of a player the then-Sooner was. For the coach, it wasn't just Williams' unmatched skills, speed and explosiveness, but his desire to win.
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"In this day and age where kids opt out of bowl games, Trent was at Oklahoma, and their center got hurt," Foerster recalled. "He played center in the ball game. He is a tackle, and had to worry about his draft status but he just wanted his team to win the bowl game."
That same love for the game and competitive nature has led Williams to suiting up for 210 games thus far, with all but one contest as a starter. The younger players in the offensive line room also keep the savvy veteran on his toes. When asked about the elder counterpart, Dominick Puni and Colton McKivitz joked that there was too much talk about Williams' elite play this season, but then countered that he deserved all of the praise.
"I say it's probably his best ball since he's been here," McKivitz said. "Explosiveness-wise right now, and what he's doing in pass protection with his hands and his feet and how he's playing, he's playing really well."
McKivitz was drafted by the 49ers in 2020, when Williams arrived, and the two tackles, along with center Jake Brendel, who arrived the following season, have been a consistent part of the 49ers' offense ever since. Puni joined the group in 2024 as a day-one starter and is thankful for his time to play alongside Williams.
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"It is crazy," Puni said. "He's 38 and I think he, right now, is the best offensive lineman in football and I'm not kidding. It's hard to argue. I feel like he's playing better than he has in the last couple years.
"We just watched the tape and it's unreal. It's just fun to watch because just nobody else doing it at that age. That with that high of success, especially at left tackle."
Brendel believes that Williams could rely purely on his physical gifts to be a success in the league, winning his blocks using pure strength and experience. Instead, even in his 17th season, the tackle is looking for ways to improve and maximize his potential.
Williams' dedication to his craft is what Brendel believes is a rare find.
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"He's bought in completely," Brendel said. "I've never seen a guy play through more pain and more just more discomfort than I've seen him play through. It's very impressive and something to look up to as a young player.
"He's super receptive, super coachable, and honestly it's pretty awesome to see him get better every single season. At 38. It's awesome. Hey, us old guys can still do it."
Shanahan agrees with Brendel that Williams has a unique mindset for a rare 38-year-old that still is in the league, and the coach is more than happy to have Williams on the roster as long as he wants to keep playing. Williams' spicy nature on the field is what Shanahan believes is not an element that he can coach, and might be what he is thankful for most.
"Trent really loves football," Shanahan said. "He's different than a lot of guys. Especially offensive lineman. He really enjoys the competition. He really enjoys talking crap to the guy in front of him.
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"Watch him in a victory. Watch when we are taking a knee at the end of the game. Watch how much he enjoys letting the person in front of him know what happened. He gets a kick out of it and he's the same way at practice."
But how long will Williams still love the grind of a 17-plus-game season? Maybe as long as there still are new experiences in his career, like the 49ers' 6-0 start, which is the first in the tackle's lengthy career.
Maybe Williams will stay as long as Micah encourages him to keep lacing up his cleats. His daughter, who turned 17 just last week, still enjoys attending games to see her father play, which alleviates the pang of guilt that her father experiences during the season about spending more time at home.
"Just athletic ability, just mentality, these things are out of my control," Williams said. "Things that God blessed me with that have allowed me to propel my name into the upper echelon of my position throughout history. If I have that much of a blessing, what am I doing trying to figure out when should I turn it off?"
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Just a week prior, Williams chuckled when asked if he could play long enough to have his picture on the team's famed 10-year wall. This time, when the same query came up, there was a different answer from the First-Team All-Pro.
"Never say never," Williams said with a sly smile.
