Meanwhile, Trent Williams of the San Francisco 49ers is once again one of the best offensive tackles in the NFL. For a long time, however, it was not clear whether he would ever be on a football field again due to cancer.

Munich – In February 2019, a world came crashing down for offensive tackle Trent Williams.

Because he had been diagnosed with a rare type of skin cancer, he had to put his NFL career on hold for the time being. As he now explains in an interview, the time was almost unbearable for him: “The football player, the sport itself. That was all blown away in one fell swoop at that moment,” he told the “NFL Network” about his diagnosis at the time.

“I felt completely helpless. I felt as vulnerable as a person can imagine. The worst part was not knowing if you were going to be on this earth the next day,” said the 49ers star.

Williams should settle affairs

So not only was he unsure if he would ever be able to return to the NFL, but also if he would be able to make it through the whole thing. Doctors would have told him at the time that these could be his “last days as of now.”

“It could have been six weeks or six months. I was told to get all my affairs in order so that no one would have to deal with it after my demise,” he explained further, “It felt like a dream. I just didn’t want to believe it,” said the now 33-year-old.

The worst part for him was explaining it to his own daughters, “I wasn’t worried that I would be gone. I was worried that they would be without a father figure so young in their lives,” the 145-kilogram man admitted emotionally. So he had already started choosing possible replacement father figures.

But fortunately everything turned out differently. After several operations on his skin, the tumour could just be removed before it would have spread to his head. Because chemotherapy was also avoided in this way, nothing stood in the way of a return to the football field.

Monster Contract and Pro Bowl

But because he had problems with the helmets during his comeback, there were disagreements with his team at the time, the Washington Football Team. At the request of his player advisor, Williams was eventually traded to the San Francisco 49ers in the 2020 offseason, where he found new happiness.

After strong performances, he was given an absolute monster contract with his new team before the current season – he can earn over 136 million US dollars in San Francisco over the next six years.

That he is worth this money as one of the best tackles, he also proved this season. As the NFL recently announced, Williams was again selected to the Pro Bowl. It is the ninth time he has received this honour.