Seahawks C Connor Williams to Retire From NFL

Leaving the Seahawks with a significant hole at center for the rest of the season, Connor Williams has decided to hang up his cleats.

Sep 22, 2024; Seattle, Washington, USA; Seattle Seahawks center Connor Williams (57) prepares to snap the ball during the fourth quarter against the Miami Dolphins at Lumen Field. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Ng-Imagn Images / Kevin Ng-Imagn Images

Away from the team all week for undisclosed personal reasons, the Seattle Seahawks will have to move forward at center without veteran Connor Williams.

Speaking with reporters following Friday's final practice leading up to Sunday's road game against the 49ers, Seahawks coach Mike Macdonald announced that Williams has decided to retire from the NFL. In his absence, per Macdonald, second-year center Olu Oluwatimi will receive the first crack to replace him in the starting lineup.

"It's out of everyone's control, the situation is," Macdonald said of Williams' abrupt retirement. "We have to honor the decision and respect where he's coming from and move forward."

After the departure of starter Evan Brown in free agency, the Seahawks looked poised to enter the 2024 season with Oluwatimi or Nick Harris at the pivot position. However, Harris was dealt to the Browns early in training camp and the team signed Williams in mid-August as he finished working back from a torn ACL suffered last December.

The 27-year old Williams made a remarkable recovery, managing to start for Seattle in Week 1 and start all nine games before deciding to hang up his cleats. Per Pro Football Focus, the veteran allowed 11 pressures in those contests and posted a strong 98.3 percent pass block efficiency rate, which ranked eighth among 30 qualified centers. He also scored favorably as a run blocker with a 70.1 grade that ranked 10th.

However, Williams had struggled mightily delivering clean snaps to quarterback Geno Smith in recent weeks. In a Week 8 loss to the Bills, he airmailed a snap over Smith's head in the red zone, leading to a huge loss that nearly knocked the Seahawks out of field goal range. In the same game, he also inadvertently stepped on the quarterback's foot and tripped him up on a fourth down play in the red zone, and followed up with several poor snaps in a loss to the Rams before the bye.

According to Macdonald, Williams' decision to retire didn't have anything to do with the knee injury he came back from, but he opted to keep everything else discussed in their meeting earlier in the week in house. As for the possibility that the veteran could change his mind, Macdonald shot down that notion, believing his decision to walk away from the game was final.

Drafted in the second round out of Texas by the Cowboys in 2018, Williams played in 57 games with 51 starts in seven NFL seasons, seeing significant action at guard and center. He also played in the postseason three times, including his rookie season in Dallas and the 2022 season in Miami.

With Williams now set to be placed on the retirement/reserve list, the Seahawks will move forward with Oluwatimi and rookie Jalen Sundell as the two centers on their 53-man roster and could be in the market for a practice squad insurance option. A roster spot will be opened for the team to fill immediately, which could be used to promote tight end Tyler Mabry or another position of need heading into Sunday's NFC West rematch.

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