As Ricky Williams arrived at the Miami Dolphins training camp it seemed like a perfect time to cue the mellifluous music that opens each Trailer Park Boys episode.
In the first installment of each new season, Ricky, a character on the show, is released from prison with his buddies and goes home to Sunnyvale trailer park.
“Tonight I am getting so drunk and smoking so much god damn dope” he exclaims - minus the expletives - on his day of release in the fifth season.
Williams, heading into his sixth season in the NFL, might be off somewhere in Australia echoing those very sentiments if it weren’t for financial restraints.
Instead, he’s back in his jail, getting ready to grind through the rigors of another NFL season.
What are his inmates to think of him, a season after he prioritized his blunts over his buddies?
Everyone seems to be under the impression that his teammates will be furious with his abrupt exit but the truth is that they will have no choice but to deal with it.
Michael Pittman purposely rammed a car containing his wife and son with his SUV and it didn’t phase his teammates. Leonard Little killed an innocent driver while driving under the influence of alcohol and then was caught drinking and driving again years later but his mates still took him back.
The Dolphins roster has no choice but to do the same. The burning question for Miami should be: why even open the door to him?
With a new coaching regime, a new direction for the organization and a new face at running back, the franchise had seemingly moved past this shame.
To bring him back now pulls a band-aid off of a healing cut.
The only theory that makes sense is that the Dolphins plan to trade him.
But even if Williams does flash the skills of the player who burned up defenses for 1853 rushing yards in 2002, who would want him?
Shaun Alexander and Edgerrin James, two of the NFL’s premier running backs were on the trading block this offseason and garnered very little attention. The Buffalo Bills could get nothing more than a third-round pick for Travis Henry, a proven back with a miniscule figure on the salary cap.
So who would want Williams after a yearlong vacation with his excessive baggage?
The running back position is the most saturated position in football as every team is content with their main guy or their potential starter.
That means Williams is going to be a back up, and in that case, the Dolphins won’t get much more than a fifth-round draft pick for Williams.
I’m all for second chances if there are good intentions but the idea of welcoming a 28-year-old running back who is only returning because he had to pay back $8.6 million of guaranteed money has more negatives than positives.
Ricky Williams and the Miami Dolphins mix like Mondays and me.
“Ricky, you're pointing a loaded handgun at a puppet. Behind the puppet is our friend. The bullet will go through the doll and kill Bubbles. Give me the gun.” – Julian from Trailer Park Boys
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