If Ricky Williams didn't shock the football nation and a ton of fantasy football players late Saturday night into the early hours, you would not be reading these words right now.
Sure, the name "Ricky Williams" might have come up in the course of the column, but now, well, he can only be the focus. See, everyone knew Ricky didn't want to play football. You could see it in how he played the game. A boatload of talent, but when you force your talent out to the masses, it can get very excruciating.
And the dam just broke on Ricky.
He has a taste for marijuana.
He has a taste for living a lifestyle without structure.
The National Football League is without a doubt one of the most structured environments you can enter into. From your first scouting combine, to the pre-game meal. He has a taste for making himself happy, but only a quick taste. Now, he can sit down and make himself happy for the rest of his life.
No longer will he have to worry about some columnist in South Beach writing about how it was a damn shame he didn't rush for 160 yards and three scores as opposed to 125 and that lone touchdown. No longer will he have to do something that others wanted for him.
Sure, a lot of people hate Ricky Williams right now. Teammates must feel abandoned. They can't really feel anything else right now. Williams is their offense. There is no other way around that. A.J. Feeley looked solid for a couple games in 2002, but can he lead a team that now asks Travis Minor to carry the load at halfback?
And they say this doesn't change much. Dave Wannstedt says that their offense will remain balance. Which is a good thing. Balance does happen to be a crucial element to success in the NFL. It's just that balance is a little more to their liking when you happen to chew up four or more yards a carry instead of two or three.
The Dolphins obviously hope that Williams is "pulling a Seth Joyner" and just trying to find a way out of the early days of training camp. Too bad for the Dolphins that Williams happens to be slightly in a different World, while Joyner was simply a pro at making up excuses to skip out of the first few days of training camp. The practice of the veteran ducking the training camp is about as old as training itself.
You usually stay in the states, though. So chalk Ricky up in the "not coming back anytime soon" column, along with Robert Smith and Barry Sanders.
The big question now happens to revolve around where the Dolphins wind up. With balance within the AFC East just about peaking as is (except for the Patriots, who have already hung the 2004 and 2005 Division Championship banners), you have to think that this drops the Dolphins to the bottom of the barrel. This team was not a playoff team with Ricky Williams, how do they expect to be one this season?
With Travis Minor.
The Dolphins need to make up 392 carries.
With Travis Minor.
Who has carried the ball 144 times in three seasons.
There is talk about the Dolphins making a move, but making a move likely involves giving up a defensive piece. A defense that they have worked very hard to get to where they are. Sure, they could make a move and inject Anthony Thomas into the offense in a deal with the Chicago Bears, but that is only a band-aid.
The Dolphins need to take the departure of Williams and run with it. In the opposite direction of where everyone else is heading. Save as many pieces to the defense as you possibly can. Fight your way to the bottom of the barrel. Make a deal on draft day to trade your now coveted possession and get yourselves a team worthy of being placed on the same field as the New England Patriots. Because this team just isn't going to be one that contends.
If you swing for a replacement and miss, you miss big. The last thing you want is to make a drastic decision for the present, that you know won't play down the line, that winds up not doing much for you in the here and now. Making a move to replace Williams, no doubt under fan pressure that Williams sought to avoid, better be the right one.
Does anyone else picture Wannstedt on a telephone, draft day style, leaving voice messages for Ricky while Ricky just laughs, whilst asking the stewardess in a flight (now heading to Bora Bora) for another Long Island Ice Tea? He doesn't have to worry about the Jets playing to win the games. He doesn't have to worry about the Bills being a dominant force once they get their act together. He doesn't have to worry about the Patriots being, well, the Patriots.
He just has to worry about what he's doing next. And he doesn't even have to worry about that. He can just float, rather aimlessly, and apparently Ricky is just fine with that.
So be happy for Ricky.
Unless, of course, you happen to root for the Miami Dolphins.
Or hate him for leaving a game that he no longer found fun. Sounds kind of childish, but on which end?
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