Former 49ers and Bears star announces retirement at 32 and celebrates with longtime All-Pro teammate

Wide receiver Trent Taylor has hung up his cleats after seven seasons in the NFL.

The wideout, who played for the San Francisco 49ers, Chicago Bears and Cincinnati Bengals announced the news in a post on social media alongside longtime friend George Kittle.

He was selected by the Niners in the fifth round of the 2017 NFL Draft — 31 picks after Kittle, who recently attended Travis Kelce & Taylor Swift’s wedding.

He caught 43 passes for 430 yards and two touchdowns, but injuries quickly derailed a once-promising career.

Taylor didn’t appear on the field for the entire 2019 season after undergoing foot surgery during the offseason.

After returning to the Bay Area for the COVID-19 impacted 2020 season, Taylor joined the Bengals for two seasons.

He caught just eight passes for 103 yards across 20 games, but was a crucial part of their Super Bowl LVI run.

During the 2021 AFC Championship Game with the, he stepped onto the field for his first offensive snap of the entire playoffs.

Taylor caught a critical two-point conversion from Joe Burrow to tie the game against the Kansas City Chiefs, sparking Cincinnati’s historic comeback.

Taylor joined the Bears in 2023 – where he was targeted just twice.

Reuniting with the 49ers in 2024, Taylor appeared in just two games. He was on the injured reserve for the entire 2025 for a reason that was never disclosed.

He walks away from the NFL having racked up 88 catches for 845 yards and three touchdowns, while adding over 1,000 yards returning punts and kicks.

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Trent Taylor fought the odds

Being 5-foot-8 and 160 pounds had it’s limits, despite compiling 2,700 yards and 38 touchdowns in his final two years at Evangel Christian Academy.

Louisiana Tech was the only college program to offer the wideout a Division I scholarship, and he made the most of that opportunity.

“I understood why I wasn’t getting offered,” Taylor said in 2017, via the 49ers official website.

“I just knew that I needed an opportunity to go prove myself and Louisiana Tech gave me that opportunity and that’s all I could ask for.”

Taylor finished his Bulldogs career with 4,179 yards and 32 touchdowns to go with his program record of 327 career receptions.

The fact he fell to the 49ers in the fifth round was good news to head coach Kyle Shanahan, who called him his ‘draft crush’.

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“I thought he was as good at the slot role as anyone that we were looking at in the draft,” Shanahan said.

“What impressed me the most about him besides the separation ability is that when he did get the ball in his hands, he ran angry and pissed off.

“He got up the field. He’s not scared to get hit. He’s a very competitive, violent runner and those are the guys who keep you on the field and move the chains.”

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