Reuters

Count 49ers safety Donte Whitner among the NFL players who aren’t buying the “everybody does it” defense for Gregg Williams.

Whitner told Alex Marvez and Jim Miller on SiriusXM NFL Radio that he was appalled to hear that Williams, the former Saints defensive coordinator, encouraged his players to injure players on the 49ers prior to their January meeting.

“Those are my teammates,” Whitner said. “If those things are true, I think it’s really disgusting and something should be done about it to a higher extreme than what is [already done]. You’re out there intending to hurt guys. This is their careers and how they take care of their families.”

It was Whitner who ended up dishing out the hardest hit in that Saints-49ers playoff game, knocking out Saints running back Pierre Thomas with a legal helmet-to-helmet shot. Whitner said he believes in playing tough, physical defense — as he did when he drilled Thomas — but plays within the rules.

“I didn’t go out intentionally to hurt him,” Whitner said. “Whenever I play and somebody has the football, I want to hit them as hard as I possibly can without injuring myself and intentionally injuring them. But I want to hit you as hard as I can. It’s my job.”

Williams went far outside the bounds of his job.