Trent Williams

Williams was married to Sondra, and they separated in 2019. He filed for divorce in November 2020. In November 2024, Sondra announced that she had lost a stillborn son after the child's twin had previously been miscarried.

Williams is friends with running back Adrian Peterson, his former Oklahoma and Washington teammate. The two co-own a gym in Houston.

His community work has focused particularly on his hometown of Longview, Texas. He partnered with Nike in 2016 to donate more than 1,000 shoes to elementary school campuses in Longview, served as an ambassador for the American Diabetes Association beginning in 2014, and hosted the Silverback football camp for local athletes. Longview High School retired his No. 71 jersey in 2017, and the city honored him with Trent Williams Day in 2010.

Williams played college football for the Oklahoma Sooners from 2006 to 2009 under head coach Bob Stoops. As a true freshman, he became the starting right tackle late in the 2006 season after Branndon Braxton suffered a broken leg, then started Oklahoma's final six games.

He became a full-time starter as a junior in 2008 and earned First-Team All-Big 12 honors. That Oklahoma offensive line allowed only 11 sacks while blocking for an offense featuring quarterback Sam Bradford and running back DeMarco Murray, which scored 702 points, the highest total in the modern era at the time.

Williams started 12 games as a senior in 2009 and was named a First-Team All-American by the American Football Coaches Association. He appeared in 50 games and made 39 starts at Oklahoma.

The Washington Redskins selected Williams fourth overall in the first round of the 2010 NFL draft. He played for Washington from 2010 through 2019 and was named an offensive co-captain with Santana Moss in 2011. Williams made Pro Bowls from 2012 through 2018 and earned Second-Team All-Pro recognition in 2015 and 2016.

In 2019, Williams missed the season amid a dispute with the organization over the handling of a growth on his head. The growth, first noticed in 2013, was surgically removed and diagnosed as dermatofibrosarcoma protuberans, a type of cancer. After returning to the team later that year, he failed a physical because of postsurgical scalp soreness that made wearing a helmet uncomfortable.

The standoff ended with Williams being traded to the San Francisco 49ers in April 2020. Washington received a fifth-round pick in the 2020 NFL draft and a third-round pick in the 2021 draft.

Williams joined the 49ers in 2020, reuniting with head coach Kyle Shanahan, who had previously been Washington's offensive coordinator. He was selected to the Pro Bowl in 2020 and received a Pro Bowl selection and First-Team All-Pro honors in each of the 2021, 2022, and 2023 seasons.

During the 2023 season, Williams helped San Francisco reach Super Bowl LVIII, his first Super Bowl appearance. The 49ers lost the game 25-22 in overtime to the Kansas City Chiefs. Williams was also ranked seventh in the NFL Top 100 Players of 2024, the highest-ranked offensive lineman on that list.

He missed part of the 2024 season because of an ankle injury and did not return for the final two games. In 2025, he started all 16 games and was named to the Pro Bowl Games. His career totals through that season were 204 games played and 203 starts.

Williams is nicknamed "Silverback," a reference to the male gorilla. He has a large gorilla tattoo on his back and owns gorilla-themed artwork and a jeweled gorilla keychain.

The nickname was used when commissioner Roger Goodell introduced him at the 2010 NFL draft after Williams challenged Goodell to do so. Williams was also the subject of Silverback: The Trent Williams Story, a documentary that debuted in December 2021 and covered his return to football after treatment for the cancerous growth on his scalp.