49ers 7-time Pro Bowler, LB Patrick Willis, expected to retire
A day after running back Frank Gore agreed to sign with the Eagles, it appears the 49ers will be bidding farewell to another legendary player: The team is expecting inside linebacker Patrick Willis to retire, Yahoo Sports’ Rand Getlin reported this morning.
Willis, 30, a seven-time Pro Bowler, missed the final eight games of the 2014 season with a toe injury that required surgery. In November, Willis said the issues with his toe dated back several years and caused a decline in his play. He elected to have season-ending surgery because he feared the injury could shorten his career.
“When I hurt (it) in the Rams’ game, it kind of made me a little nervous because I knew what I had been feeling all these years,” Willis said. “I felt like the Lord was talking to me, I felt like he finally said the time is now …
“I feel like I have five or six more great years of football left in my body, but, unfortunately, this toe was telling me otherwise. That was the only thing that was weighing on my mind for a while now.”
MORE: http://www.sfgate.com/49ers/article/Report-49ers-expect-Patrick-Willis-to-retire-6123316.php
Willis is a five-time first-team All-Pro and his seven Pro Bowl berths to open his career are a franchise record.
Wonderful player. Shocking, sorrowful news.
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So now we have no running game, no defense...
Levi's Stadium 2015:
I'm looking at the Raiders.
Seriously.
Stop laughing already.
I mean it!
If you're looking at the Raiders, you'll need all the help you can get. 
Niners fan for Life.
As a lifelong fan of Boston/New England I hear you. It wasn't always duckboat parades every year for us, and it won't last forever either. 