“Olu will play center for us right now, and we’re excited for his opportunity. Just like all the other young guys who have had opportunities, Olu’s right there, he’s been working his tail off, and he’s got a great opportunity. We’re excited to see him play.
“He’s a guy that’s been knocking on the door for a while. Obviously, it’s an unforeseen circumstance that you’ve got to 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’s been working really hard, basically started at center for us the whole offseason until we signed Connor, so we’ve had a really good week of practice with Connor not here, and onward we go.”
Williams, a seventh-year veteran, was in his first season with the Seahawks, having signed as a free agent this summer. Williams previously was a starting guard for the Cowboys for three seasons before moving to center during his two seasons with Miami. His 2023 season was cut short by a torn ACL, but Williams was able to make it back for the start of the season, signing with the Seahawks in August.
Williams’ unexpected retirement was the second big change to the roster this week, following the Seahawks’ decision to waive starting linebacker Tyrel Dodson on Monday. But despite being significant changes, those moves have not been a distraction for the team, Macdonald said.
“I thought we had an excellent week of preparation,” Macdonald said. “Our guys are doing a phenomenal job. This is the NFL, that’s part of the messaging too when things happen, ‘Hey, this is kind of more the norm than not. Things are going to move and shake, and there’s going to be storylines, which is good, it means people are interested in what we’re doing, and all that sort of stuff.’ But our guys know, this is noise, man. We’ve got to ignore the noise, stay forward, let’s rock and roll. Let’s focus on what we can control, which is having a great week of practice, our attitudes every day, and they’ve done that, to their credit. They deserve a lot of credit.”