The 49ers made Willis a first-round draft pick in 2007, and he went on to be selected to seven Pro Bowls over his career. In 2007, Willis was named the NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year and finished his rookie campaign with an NFL-leading 174 total tackles.
Willis registered an impressive 950 tackles, 20.5 quarterback sacks, eight interceptions, 16 forced fumbles, and two touchdowns over his eight NFL seasons.
Willis was one of several players to retire during the 2015 offseason. The others included defensive end Justin Smith and linebacker Chris Borland. Willis' sudden retirement was an unexpected shock to the Niner Faithful.
"I have always told myself that when I came into the game, I would never judge myself by someone else's statistics to see whether I was great or not," Willis said in 2017. "I would base it off whether I done what I know I came into the game to do and I truly felt like I did that and that's why I was able to walk away from the game as I did."
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