After missing all of the 2023 season due to injury, K’Waun Williams did not play in 2024. The veteran cornerback does not appear prepared to aim for a comeback in 2025, either.
The veteran slot defender is expected to retire, according to the Denver Gazette’s Chris Tomasson. Williams spent the 2022 and ’23 seasons in Denver but will be best remembered for his time in San Francisco. Williams played 10 NFL seasons.
Williams, 33, suffered an ankle injury in summer 2023 and ended up on IR. The Broncos carried Williams through to their 53-man roster, in hopes the experienced inside corner could return later that season. That never transpired, as Williams did not make it back from surgery in time. The former Browns UDFA’s contract expired after that ’23 season. While five or six teams reached out about potential 2024 landing spots, Williams’ agent said (via Tomasson) no fit developed.
The Broncos had signed Williams to take over for the oft-injured Bryce Callahan in 2022, and the former played 14 games during Denver’s disappointing Nathaniel Hackett-led campaign. Denver signed off on a two-year, $5.2MM deal; that ran Williams’ career earnings past $18MM. The Pittsburgh alum’s two 49ers contracts did the heavier lifting to reach that total.
After the Browns waived Williams in 2017, following an ongoing dispute about an ankle injury, he landed with the 49ers during Kyle Shanahan‘s first offseason running the show. That agreement proved pivotal, as Williams manned the slot under Robert Saleh and DeMeco Ryans for five years. Williams was a regular for the 2019 49ers, who rebounded from a 4-12 season to reach Super Bowl LIV, and then was their slot staple in 2021 — after the team bounced back from a 6-10 slate to reach the NFC championship game. Williams forced four fumbles to help San Francisco to a 13-3 record during that 2019 season; he added a fifth during the 49ers’ NFC title game win over the Packers.
Helping a team that did not have the same stability at outside corner during this span, Williams was charged with just two touchdowns surrendered across his final four NFL seasons. Earning a three-year, $8.85MM extension early during the 2017 season, Williams joined Richard Sherman and Emmanuel Moseley as 49ers regulars during the Super Bowl LIV run. The 49ers then re-signed him to a one-year deal for the 2021 campaign. Williams played two seasons for the Browns, the first of which (2014) doubling as Shanahan’s Cleveland OC stopover. The Bears had claimed Williams off waivers in 2016 but did not pass him on a physical.
San Francisco struggled to find a Williams replacement in 2022 and ’23, seeing various options play in nickel sets alongside Charvarius Ward and Deommodore Lenoir in that span. The Broncos have turned to UDFA Ja’Quan McMillian in the slot post-Williams. If this is it for Williams, he will close his career with five interceptions, 11 forced fumbles and 34 passes defensed.