Not all roads in the NFL lead the same way for any player. Even those destined for greatness fail to reach the mountaintop in the NFL and get the opportunity to compete for a Super Bowl title.
Some players in the NFL have competed in multiple Super Bowls and many never even got or will ever get the opportunity to suit up for the biggest game no matter how monumental of a career they may have in the league.
San Francisco 49ers left tackle, Trent Williams, will finally get to cross that goal off his bucket list to conclude what will be his 13th season in the NFL with the potential to add a Lombardi trophy and a Super Bowl ring to his already Hall of Fame career.
Williams has established himself as one of the best left tackles the game of football has ever seen and reached new heights since joining the 49ers in 2020. The 49ers wanted to make a splash following their 2019 loss in the Super Bowl against the Kansas City Chiefs and Williams could be the team's X-factor the second time around.
Williams began his astonishing career with the Washington Commanders who drafted him with the 4th overall pick in the 2010 NFL Draft. Since then, he's been named to three All-Pro rosters and received 11 straight Pro Bowls nods.
On Sunday, Willams will become the fourth player in NFL history to earn 11+ Pro Bowl selections prior to playing in his first Super Bowl joining Pro Football Hall of Famers Champ Bailey, Bruce Matthews and Reggie White. It's quite the list of names and quite the achievement to finally reach, although reality still hasn’t yet set in for him.
"It still feels like a dream," Williams said during the Super Bowl LVIII opening night. "As a kid, you want to be in the NFL. You sit there watching Super Bowl weekend with the whole family coming together, you get some rotel dip and everybody is lounging on the couch watching the game. I just always wanted to be in that event and be one of those teams. It's just always been a dream to get to this point."
Williams seems to not be taking any moment for granted leading up to Sunday's big game and nor should he. It's been a long road to get to this point in his career and he deserves to cherish each memory attached to it along the way.
Kyle Shanahan, Williams' head coach during his entire tenure with the 49ers, will be the first one to tell you how important Williams has been to the entire team and how much of a factor he is toward the team reaching the top of the mountain once again.
"It's tough to win without a left tackle you can trust and it helps you win when you have probably the best left tackle ever," Shanahan said back in December. "He's that guy that we don't have to worry about. He's a guy that makes plays for us too."
Shanahan and Williams' relationship goes back even further than their time in San Francisco. When Williams was drafted in 2010, Shanahan served as Washington's offensive coordinator with his dad, Mike Shanahan, serving as the team's head coach. The two only spent three seasons together in Washington but Williams left a sizable impact on his current head coach.
"Being with Trent his rookie year all the way to now, he's as good of an athlete as I've been around. He's one of the best leaders on our team. Football is very important to Trent and he really enjoys playing. I just feel very fortunate to have him on our team and I can't say enough about Trent."
If there's one player worth rooting for to hoist the Lombardi trophy in the air following Super Bowl LVIII, it's hard to find one more worthy than Williams. Let's see if he can add yet another accomplishment to his Hall of Fame career on Sunday.
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