Seahawks starting center Connor Williams retires

RENTON, Wash. — Connor Williams’ stint as the Seattle Seahawks’ starting center will end at nine games after he told the team this week he has decided to retire.

Coach Mike Macdonald made the announcement after Friday’s practice.

The Seahawks had earlier listed Williams as out for Sunday’s game against the 49ers after he missed practice Wednesday, Thursday and Friday for what was termed personal reasons.

Macdonald declined to specify why Williams — who spent four seasons with Dallas and two with Miami before signing with Seattle — is retiring, instead referring to it as “personal reasons.”

Williams had returned to Seattle following the Seahawks’ bye last week and attended practice Monday before informing the team of his decision.

“We’ll honor his wishes and keep all the reasons and conversations private,” Macdonald said. ” … You start getting into timetables and all that, I’d rather keep it private between Connor and the things that he’s working through. But it was this week.”

Macdonald said second-year player Olu Oluwatimi, a fifth-round draft pick in 2023 out of Michigan, will start in place of Williams when Seattle plays the 49ers in Santa Clara on Sunday at 3:05 p.m. ET, with undrafted rookie free agent Jalen Sundell as the backup.

Oluwatimi worked as the starting center throughout the spring offseason program and the first few weeks of training camp before Seattle signed Williams on Aug. 11.

Oluwatimi started one game as a rookie in 2023, a home win over Arizona, but has not played any snaps at center this season; Williams had taken all 618.

“He’s a guy that’s been knocking on the door for a while,” Macdonald said of Oluwatimi. “Obviously it’s an unforeseen circumstance that you kind of take on head on, but the silver lining in the whole thing is that we get to see Olu go do his thing. This guy has been working really hard, basically started at center for us the whole offseason until we signed Connor. So he’s had a really good week of practice with Connor not here, so onward we go.”

Williams, 27, signed with Seattle after recovering from an ACL injury suffered in December while playing with Miami, but Macdonald said the knee was not a factor in his decision to retire.

Macdonald said there does not appear to be a chance Williams changes his mind and returns to play, saying “I don’t believe so,” adding that the team will make the necessary moves Saturday to clear Williams off the 53-man roster.

That likely means putting Williams on either the reserve/retired list or the reserve/left team list.

Macdonald said after Monday’s practice that the team had debated during the bye week moving Williams to guard, the position he played his first four years with Dallas from 2018-21 before moving to center in 2022 with Miami, but felt it was best to leave him at center.

Macdonald didn’t give any indication in that answer that anything was afoot with Williams. It’s also unclear if the team’s decision to leave him at center had anything to do with his decision to retire.

Asked Thursday about the decision to leave Williams at center, offense coordinator Ryan Grubb said: “I think the biggest part was we felt like we had made enough headway with Connor there. And also just moving a guy into a position like that, you may set him back further and instead of trying to continue to pour into the development piece, you’re kind of starting over and pushing rewind a little bit there. Not that he couldn’t have been a good guard, but we really just kind of were looking at it in terms of, ‘Alright, do we really want to take that big of a step backwards when we think we’re moving in the right direction?'”

The Seahawks had hoped that they had maybe found their center not just for this season but also for the future when Williams signed in August. His signing came after he had an official visit in late July and passed a physical.

Williams also considered an offer from the Baltimore Ravens, but said he liked the idea of getting in on the ground floor of a new coaching staff with the Seahawks.

“I always like building, and building with a new team, with a whole new program and everything,” Williams said Aug. 12. “And then how they pursued me and how they wanted me, I think it made a great mutual fit, and so just excited to be part of it.”

Williams signed a one-year deal worth up to $4 million that included $2.98 million guaranteed, which consisted of a $1.23 million base salary and $1.75 million in a signing bonus.

The Seahawks signed Williams with the hope that he could stabilize a mostly young offensive line after he earned an 86.3 grade a year ago from Pro Football Focus, second among NFL centers.

The team knew Williams might need some time to get back into football shape following his knee injury and a quick return to play, seeing his first action almost nine months after his injury.

Williams also had to adjust to a new offense. That all may have taken a toll as Williams has just a 63.9 PFF grade this season — 18th among centers — has committed eight penalties and uncorked a few bad snaps in the past two games out of the shotgun formation.

Macdonald said he was surprised to hear from Williams that he wanted to retire.

“The situation is what it is,” he said. “You’ve just got to make the best of it and move on.”

Macdonald indicated there is no ill will between the sides.

“We wish him well,” Macdonald said. “This guy has come in and worked really hard for us. Obviously he made the decision that he made, and we’re still here to support him in everything that he needs.”

Metcalf, Lucas ready to go

The Seahawks also ruled out tight ends Brady Russell (foot) and Noah Fant (groin) for Sunday’s game.

No one else was listed, meaning the rest of the 53-man roster is considered healthy enough to play.

That includes receiver DK Metcalf, who sat out the past two games because of a sprained MCL suffered Oct. 20 at Atlanta, and offensive tackle Abe Lucas, who has yet to play this season while recovering from knee surgery.

“Excited to have DK back,” Macdonald said. “He’s ready to go.”

Lucas practiced fully Thursday and Friday, and he will make his 2024 debut against the 49ers, though Macdonald said he may not play every snap. That means there could be a rotation at right tackle with rookie Michael Jerrell.

“We’re anticipating to see him right now in a pretty significant manner,” Macdonald said. “We’re still on a progression here, so the amount of reps that he’s going to get, we’ll see how the game unfolds. We have a plan, we have a target rep count, we’ll kind of leave that in-house right now.”

While Williams being out will give the Seahawks a big hole to fill in the middle of the offensive line, the return of Lucas will help to bolster the right-tackle spot.

The Seahawks have used veterans George Fant and Stone Forsythe, as well as Jerrell, at that spot this season while Lucas recovered from knee surgery in January. Lucas started 16 games as a rookie in 2022 and six last year while dealing with his knee issue.

Lucas said after practice Friday he is ready for whatever the team asks of him Sunday.

“I’m just going to do what they tell me to do,” Lucas said. “There’s a plan; they have a plan, I follow directions.”

Fant and Russell being out leaves Seattle with two healthy tight ends on its 53-man roster in Pharaoh Brown and AJ Barner. Seattle could also elevate Tyler Mabry or the recently signed N’Keal Harry from the practice squad to add depth at tight end.

Fant is the team’s leading receiver at tight end with 27 receptions for 285 yards. He also missed the Rams game. But Macdonald said Fant will not go on IR, with the team hoping he will be back soon.

“He’s making progress, looking good (but) just not ready yet,” Macdonald said.

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