The San Francisco 49ers are set to face the Washington Commanders as they continue their run in the season. But amid the preparations, offensive lineman Trent Williams was questioned about potentially reigniting his sorrowful memories with the Commanders. Turns out, he doesn’t remember any.

“Yeah, sometimes I forget that I even played there,” Williams told reporters while smiling, according to Harrison Rich of the San Francisco Chronicle. “I’ve been here going on seven years, so I only played nine seasons there. I was there 10 years, and I played nine seasons. It’s been almost just as much time here as I have there.”

Williams was drafted by Washington in 2010, and played nine seasons for the team through 2018. He made the Pro Bowl in seven straight seasons, and was also included in Washington’s Commanders’ 90 greatest players on the team’s 90th anniversary. How Williams seems to have forgotten this is a little bizarre.

However, what is more poignant from his time at Washington is how the team handled his cancer diagnosis. Per NBC Sports Washington, Williams had noted a lump on his head since 2013.

It was cancer; I had cancer,” Williams had said at the time. “I had a tumor removed from my skull, attached to my skull. It got pretty serious for a second. I was told some scary things from the doctor. It was definitely nothing to play with. It was one of those things that changes your outlook on life.”

Per CBS, when he was diagnosed, the team treated the cancer diagnosis as minor.

Williams was not in any pain initially, but a routine check for what was considered to be a cyst was when the condition was revealed to be serious. He was diagnosed with cancer, and a pretty rare form of it, too: dermatofibrosarcoma protuberans, or DFSP.

He also had no guaranteed money left in his contract with Washington at this time. He had also staged a holdout in the 2019 offseason.

By the time he had left, he wanted to have no reminders of his Washington past, probably.

“I’ll never be a Redskins again,” he said in 2019.

He was finally traded to the 49ers in April 2020 in exchange for a 2020 fifth-round pick and a 2021 third-round pick.

“It wasn’t about the money,” Williams said of his departure in 2020. “It was about respect. It felt I didn’t get that from them at that point. Nine years previous to that, I didn’t have an issue. I’ve seen issues happen (there), but I overlooked them because they didn’t happen to me. It was my first time being on that side of things. The better decision was to just go my separate way.”

Now, Williams has put his past behind him and is just focused on Week 6 and helping his team remain undefeated. In his time with the 49ers so far, the veteran offensive lineman has started in all games he’s played and made the Pro Bowl five times.

But Williams isn’t the only one with some history with the Commanders, as head coach Kyle Shanahan served as an offensive coordinator from 2010 through 2013 alongside Williams. The overlap was a reason why the 49ers were a preferred team for the star offensive lineman.

“This was a preferred destination of mine just because of the familiarity I had with Kyle and the offense, and obviously they have an ascending team,” Williams said at the time. “The reason I was drafted to Washington was the way this offense marries up with my skill set. And I think it’s still the same. It’s a hand in glove fit. I know this offense like the back of my hand.”

Shanahan was fired, along with his father and former Washington head coach, Mike Shanahan, after the 2013 season. But even he doesn’t hold any grudges now.

It is safe to say that both Shanahan and Williams have moved on from their toxic relationship with the Commanders and now want to win for the 49ers rather than seek revenge against them.

The post “Forgot I Even Played There”: 49ers’ Trent Williams Drops Blunt Take On Commanders Career Ahead of Reunion appeared first on EssentiallySports. Add EssentiallySports as a Preferred Source by clicking here.