Vince Williams never was elected a captain by his Pittsburgh Steelers teammates. That doesn’t mean he wasn’t one of the most revered members of the locker room.

A day after he surprisingly announced his retirement after eight seasons with the organization, Williams was lauded for his play on the field and his conduct off it. Although he never captained the defense, he was one of its unquestioned leaders in recent seasons.

“Vince is the epitome of a Pittsburgh Steeler — an absolute dog,” outside linebacker T.J. Watt said. “Vocal. Every time he was on the field, he brought confidence and instilled confidence in every single guy that he played with. So (I’m) just very happy to have had an opportunity to share a field and a locker room with him.”

Quarterback Ben Roethlisberger said he spoke with Williams “a week ago or two” and didn’t get an indication that the 31-year-old inside linebacker was contemplating retirement. A starter in 2020, Williams was scheduled to share playing time with Robert Spillane this year. But Williams also was forced to take a nearly $3 million cut in pay after the Steelers released him in March and re-signed him for the NFL minimum in April.

“We both were excited to come back,” Roethlisberger said. “I saw (the news) and was shocked. I loved playing with Vince. What a great teammate. What a hard worker, a guy who literally every time the ball was in the air was going to thud someone pretty hard. He had some big hits in that stadium.

“I’m going to miss playing with him — both as a football player and as a brother and teammate.”

Coach Mike Tomlin also said he had no inkling Williams was ready to walk away from football on the eve of the first training camp workout.

“His passion for the game and the spirit in which he went about what he did, it’s a loss for us for sure, but that’s the game,” he said. “We respect the game in that way, and we wish him nothing but the best as he moves forward.”

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