Patrick Willis is a former football middle linebacker who played his entire eight-year career with the San Francisco 49ers. He was drafted by the 49ers in the first round of the 2007 NFL Draft. He played college football for Ole Miss and received consensus All-American honors.

During Willis’s senior season at Ole Miss, he received the Butkus Award and the Jack Lambert Award as the nation’s top linebacker. A year later as a member of the 49ers, Willis led the NFL in tackles, earned first-team All-Pro and Pro Bowl honors while being named the 2007 AP NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year. Willis made the Pro Bowl in his first seven seasons in the NFL, and earned All-Pro honors in his first six years. He won the college Butkus Award in 2006 while at Ole Miss and in 2009, he won the professional Butkus Award while with the 49ers.