Leonard Williams didn’t expect a conference to change the trajectory of his life, but that’s exactly what happened.
Several years ago, while playing for the New York Giants, Williams attended a Pro Athletes Outreach conference after being sponsored by then-teammate Nate Solder. At the time, Williams’ faith wasn’t firmly rooted. His upbringing didn’t include much exposure to church or Christianity, and his life had already been shaped by constant movement and new environments.
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A well-traveled man in his personal life and on his second NFL team, he considered himself an open-minded person. That was the disposition with which he attended the conference when he went in 2021 for the first time. He’s been back every year since.
“Even though I didn’t claim to be a religious man or a righteous man, I was going into this open-hearted and open-minded,” he said on the Sports Spectrum Podcast in January 2025. “There were obviously a lot of walls that came up for me just because I’m learning, but overall I just learned at PAO [about] the community that it brings and the love that was shared; you just see all these families and people from different walks and backgrounds all coming together, uplifting each other. It was just all about love and support.”
Williams’ life, both spiritually and professionally, has been defined by movement. He attended high school in Daytona Beach, Florida, before heading west to play college ball at USC. Then, he headed back east when the New York Jets drafted him with the sixth overall pick in 2015. He was traded mid-season to the Giants in 2019, then made his way back to the West Coast when he was traded to the Seahawks in the middle of the 2023 season.
He’s learned to embrace the ups and downs and constant unknowns of both life and football.
“When you always see even the hardships in your life as God’s will, not just the highlights of your life, it kind of brings you to peace,” he said on the podcast. “It’s like these times when I have to get traded from a New York team all the way to the West Coast in Seattle in the middle of a season, in those moments I could easily break down. But when I see it as God’s will, it kind of brings peace to your life. Maybe there’s going to be great things for me to come in Seattle, and so far it has been great. It’s been a great move for us.”
The midseason trade from the Giants to the Seahawks became one of the most pivotal moments of his career. Williams arrived in Seattle, finished the year strong, earned a new contract, and followed it with one of the best seasons of his career in 2024-25 — 64 tackles, 11 sacks and his second-career interception, which was a 92-yard pick-six against his former team, the Jets.
He’s been a Pro Bowl selection in each of his two full seasons with the Seahawks, and last season he earned Defensive Player of the Month for December. Now, he’s headed to his first Super Bowl after helping Seattle defeat the Los Angeles Rams in the NFC Championship Game.
“This means so much,” Williams told reporters following the win over the Rams. “It’s been a dream to be in a situation like this. It means even more to me to be here with these guys that I’ve been battling with every day. I think that’s the reason why this year will be so memorable for me — not because of the winning, but because of the men in this locker room, how close we are, how much we love each other, how much we ride for each other. That type of brotherhood we have will last for a lifetime.”
Pro Bowl DL Leonard Williams played 11 years in the NFL, the first 8 1/2 mired with the Jets and Giants, to get to this: He and his #Seahawks in the Super Bowl.
“A dream,” he says.
And about his maligned QB Sam Darnold, 346 yds, 3 TD, 0 INTs?
“He really saved us today.” pic.twitter.com/iZJxJiZkmK
— Gregg Bell (@gbellseattle) January 26, 2026
His perspective comes from more than a decade in the league, as he’s learned what he can and can’t control and is grateful for where he is.
His wife, Hailey, has played a particularly important role in helping him navigate those transitions. Williams noted that trades can be harder on spouses and families than players themselves. Though it’s a new city for both, players have the advantage of being thrust immediately into a new community with teammates and coaches. For family members, such moves can be like starting all over.
He shared on the podcast how after the Seattle trade, Hailey asked how he was able to lock in and perform so well despite being traded mid-season and having to get adjusted quickly.
“In the middle of chaos and storm and things like that, for me it was like I could only focus on what I could control in those moments,” he said. “I couldn’t control getting traded. I couldn’t control my new environment and all these other things, but I could control going to work and having a positive attitude, working hard in practice. I was just controlling the controllables.”
He's here, and he's ready. @leonardwilliams pic.twitter.com/RkqMTVgCvA
— xz* – Seattle Seahawks (@Seahawks) January 25, 2026
His faith journey has continued to deepen. In 2024, Williams traveled to Zimbabwe with former Jets teammate and current Sports Spectrum Podcast host Matt Forte, and Williams shared his testimony publicly for the first time. It was an emotional experience that brought him to tears as he reflected on his upbringing and lack of early exposure to Christianity.
“But it was a blessing for me that I was still able to find Christ through friends,” he said.
Now, the story has come full circle. Since his life-changing experience, Williams has paid for more than a dozen Seahawks players and staff members to attend PAO’s annual conferences.
“I’m still on my journey, and the cool part of it now is that we sponsored over 10 or 15 people from the Seahawks. … It was a cool full-circle moment for me where someone sponsored me to go four years ago and it changed my life, and now I’m able to sponsor and give back the same way that I learned through PAO, so it’s beautiful.”
The Seahawks and New England Patriots kick off in Super Bowl LX at 6:30 p.m. ET on Feb. 8 from Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California.
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