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Trent Williams warms up prior to a game against the Arizona Cardinals on October 06, 2024.
On June 8, 2025, longtime NFL writer Kristopher Knox of Bleacher Report released an article titled “NFL Vets Who Might Go Out on Top In 2025”.
In the article, Knox names seven longtime NFL stars who he predicts would be candidates to call it a career if they were able to help their team win a Super Bowl.
Among that list was San Francisco 49ers offensive lineman Trent Williams. Williams has never won a Super Bowl in his career, and the 49ers have not won the big game since 1995.
Knox thinks a Super Bowl victory could be just the thing that inspires Williams to hang up the cleats in 2025.
Why Retirement Makes Sense for Williams
Trent Williams will be 37 years old when the 2025 NFL season ends, and the 11-time Pro Bowler is already a surefire Hall-of-Famer.
As Knox mentioned, Williams is actually under contract with the 49ers for two more seasons, through 2026.
However, with so many superstar and fan favorite players across their roster that they are paying top dollar for, the 49ers have had to let go of several other key players to save money. They signed Brock Purdy, Fred Warner and George Kittle to extensions this offseason but let go of Dre Greenlaw, Talanoa Hufanga, Deebo Samuel and others.
With Williams reaching the end of his athletic prime, the 49ers could see an opportunity to save some cash by reworking Williams’ contract ahead of the 2026 season or even cutting him.
If Williams and the 49ers hoist the Lombardi trophy in 2025, giving the legendary offensive lineman the final accolade he has never achieved in his storied career, it’s possible that he won’t feel the need to fight the contract battle and will just make everything easier for both parties by retiring.
But, if the 49ers fall just short of the Super Bowl while Williams continues to produce at the level of a Top-5 offensive lineman in the league, he’s been an important enough piece to San Francisco over the years that they may be willing to pay top dollar to keep Williams around for one more season and chase a championship in 2026.
Can the 49ers Reach Super Bowl LX?
The 49ers will have some extra motivation to reach Super Bowl LX given that it will be held at their home stadium, Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, CA.
They will face a tall task rebounding from the 2024 season where they went 6-11 and missed the playoffs for the first time since 2020.
However, ESPN BET has the 49ers with the sixth-best odds to win the Super Bowl in 2026, at 13-1.
The biggest X factor to the 49ers success will likely be if their young players can step up and play at a high level. The 49ers lost talent on defense and at wide receiver this past offseason; in response they have invested a lot of draft capital into defense and wide receiver for the past two NFL drafts. Players like Ricky Pearsall, Mykel Williams, Nick Martin, Jordan Watkins and Alfred Collins need to make the most of their expanded opportunities and develop into stars in 2025.
If they can do that, the 49ers will likely rebound with ease in 2025 and immediately be in contention for a Super Bowl once again.
And while 49ers fans would hate to see Trent Williams go, they can acknowledge that since he has to retire at some point, winning a Super Bowl would soften the blow of seeing a legend call it quits.
Ethan Inman is a sports journalist covering the San Francisco 49ers, San Francisco Giants and Las Vegas Raiders for Heavy sports. He also co-hosts a college football podcast for The Voice of College Football, and writes about the NBA and MLB. He has previously covered the USC Trojans, the NHL, college baseball, and the intersection of sports and popular culture for other publications. He is based in the greater Los Angeles area. More about Ethan Inman
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