The Seahawks will have a new center for this week's game against the 49ers. Connor Williams, who started all nine games prior to the bye, is retiring, Seahawks coach Mike Macdonald announced after Friday's practice.

"Connor, earlier this this week, decided to retire," Macdonald said. "Personal reasons, we respect that, wish him the best, and we've got to move forward."

Williams was not with the team in practice this week, listed as a non-participant due to personal reasons, and was ruled out on Friday's injury report.

Macdonald did not get into the details of the conversations he had with Williams about the decision, citing the veteran center's privacy, and added that the retirement is not related to the ACL injury that ended Williams' 2023 season.

"It's been a process throughout the week," Macdonald said. "We'll make the necessary roster moves tomorrow, all the designations and things like that. That will happen tomorrow, I believe."

With Williams no longer with the team, second-year center Olu Oluwatimi will get the start, the second of his career after joining the team as a fifth-round pick last season. Oluwatimi was working with the No. 1 offensive early in training camp before Williams signed in mid-August.

"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."