Trent Williams not thinking about retirement as he nears 37th birthday

SANTA CLARA, Calif. (AP) - As Trent Williams closes in on his 37th birthday next month, he’s not quite ready to think about when his brilliant football career will come to an end.

Williams feels refreshed after a trying and injury-plagued 2024 season. He even showed up for part of the voluntary portion of the offseason program for the first time in what he said was probably a decade.

That’s good news for the San Francisco 49ers, with Williams being one of their most irreplaceable players and a key part of what they hope will be a turnaround from a 6-11 season a year ago.

"I didn't give it a lot of thought, honestly," Williams said Tuesday about when he might retire. "I do myself and my teammates a disservice if I'm looking toward the end. I'm paid. People count on me to be here now. We got goals and aspirations as a team. I just don't think putting brain power toward that helps us get to where we want to go. When it happens, it happens. I feel like I'll know.”

Williams is widely considered one of the NFL’s top offensive linemen. He has been the All-Pro left tackle the past three seasons and a major reason for San Francisco's offensive success. His run of making the Pro Bowls in 11 straight seasons that he played ended last season when he missed the final seven games with a left ankle injury.

With a 12th Pro Bowl selection, Williams would break a tie with Hall of Famers Anthony Munoz, Jonathan Ogden and Willie Roaf for the most for a tackle.

Williams said he still has the goal of playing through his age 40 season in 2028 and maybe even beyond if he's still capable. His current contract that he signed last September runs through the 2026 season and has no guaranteed money left following this season.

Williams said he isn't concerned about that lack of long-term stability and is confident the situation will work itself out.

"I'm taking everything one year at a time," he said. "I feel like if my play warrants more guaranteed or a new year or two on the deal or whatever, then I'm here for it. If not, then it'd be time to settle on to the sunset. I understand what's going on, but I'm at the point where I'm not looking. I'm just going day by day and whatever happens is going to happen."

Williams said he feels energized thanks to an infusion of young players and a longer-than-usual offseason after San Francisco missed the playoffs in 2024 following three straight long playoff runs.

He said the hangover from losing the Super Bowl following the 2023 season carried over into last year as San Francisco struggled to get back to playing at a high level.

The trials from last season went beyond the injury and the losing for Williams. In November, he dealt with a much bigger tragedy when his wife gave birth to a stillborn son. Sondra Williams was initially pregnant with twins and lost the other child earlier in the pregnancy.

Williams said it was an extremely difficult time and he relied heavily on his faith to get through it.

"It's just to having the composure to know that life will throw you curveballs and no matter how hard things get for me or how hard things get for anybody else, you can find a situation where it's worse," he said. "So every day, thank God for being able to have air in my lungs. I know that that's not promised and just keep moving forward knowing that what's in the rearview is in the rearview."

Receiver Brandon Aiyuk was on the field as a spectator at practice as he works his way back from ACL surgery. Aiyuk won’t be ready to practice when training camp starts in late July along with three other players coming back from knee injuries: safety Malik Mustapha, linebacker Curtis Robinson and rookie quarterback Kurtis Rourke.

Several other players are out for minicamp but are expected to be back for the start of training camp, including: WR Ricky Pearsall (hamstring) WR Jauan Jennings (calf), DE Mykel Williams (hamstring), DT Alfred Collins (calf), T Andre Dillard (ankle), S J'Ayir Brown (ankle), S George Odum (knee) and DL Yetur Gross-Matos (knee).