Ricky Williams
Ricky Williams
Errick Lynne "Ricky" Williams Jr.is a retired American football running back who played twelve seasons in the National Football Leagueand one season in the Canadian Football League. He played college football for the University of Texas, where he was a two-time All-American and won the Heisman Trophy. Williams was drafted by the New Orleans Saints fifth overall in the 1999 NFL Draft and spent three seasons with the team before he was traded to the Miami Dolphins in 2002. He...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionFootball Player
Date of Birth21 May 1977
CitySan Diego, CA
CountryUnited States of America
At least I quit before all the fantasy drafts. Let's face it: If I'd quit after the drafts, the fans would all hate me.
It will be different, ... I played with him for four years. But I'm happy for him and I'm sure he's happy for me. Now, it's time to lock up.
This is my time. A door has swung open. You haven't seen the best of me yet.
Playing in the National Football League, you're told, you know, where to be, when to be there, what to wear, how to be there. Being able to step away from that, I have an opportunity to look deeper into myself and look for what's real.
There is no need to smear my name or to defame my character for the sake of news.
Tomorrow doesn't really exist.
When I retired, I felt that I lived more in that year than I had the previous 27 years of my life.
Greatness is the willingness to choose in the midst of intensity.
I got high, and forgot I wasn't supposed to get high.
Maybe I'm stupid or whatever, but to me if I got a concussion, if I could see straight and I could carry a football then I'm not telling anybody.
At the core, we're all spiritual beings.
I led the NFL in attempts the past two years and they really didn’t go out and get a quarterback to help me so I knew it’s going to be all on me again. I could see my mortality as a football player, that I’m not going to be able to do this much longer. It just became obvious to me that playing football for me is not going to be fun, not something I’m going to enjoy and it’s time for me to do something different.
Everywhere I go, people hear Ricky Williams and the next thing they think is marijuana or wasted talent.
And any time you feed your ego, it's a one-way street. ... There were so many things I had to deal with that erased the positives I got from playing the game that it wasn't worth it. It's like eating a Big Mac and drinking a Diet Coke.