Former All-Pro running back Ricky Williams believes that he would be a lock for the Pro Football Hall of Fame if marijuana were legal when he played.
There is no doubt that Ricky Williams, former Heisman Trophy winning running back with the Texas Longhorns and 10,000 yard rusher in the NFL, was one of the most supremely talented tailbacks of his generation. He also believes that his marijuana usage will keep him out of the Pro Football Hall of Fame and prevent him from being recognized as such.
Williams had a long and successful football career both collegiately and professionally, but his constant use of marijuana to help him cope with crippling anxiety has probably left him on the outside looking in at a place in Canton, Ohio’s Pro Football Hall of Fame.
In an interview with Bill Simmons on his HBO show Any Given Wednesday, Williams feels supremely confident that his use of marijuana is the only thing that will keep him out of the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
“For sure. No doubt about it. I look at the amount of stress and things that distracted me from playing football surrounding cannabis. Also the negative media coverage I got really tarnished my image,” Williams said.
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Though he did eclipse 10,000 career rushing yards as a professional and might be the best running back to have played for the Miami Dolphins since Pro Football Hall of Famer Larry Csonka, it won’t be just marijuana that will forever keep Williams out of Canton.
He carries the stigma associated with that grossly lopsided trade former New Orleans Saints coach Mike Ditka made, giving up all the team’s draft picks to select Williams at No. 5 in 1999. Williams notoriously wouldn’t speak with the media with the Saints unless he had his helmet on.
He became a distraction in the Saints’ locker room and was swiftly traded to the Dolphins. While did have an All-Pro year in 2002 for Miami rushing for 1,853 yards, that was his only Pro Bowl season. He abruptly retired from football in 2004 at the age of 27.
Williams came back to the Dolphins in 2005 only to be suspended for the 2006 NFL season for violating the NFL’s substance abuse policy, having to play in the CFL for the Toronto Argonauts. He’d play five more years in the NFL from 2007 to 2011 with the Dolphins and the Baltimore Ravens.
Was Williams immensely talented? Absolutely, but he was largely as selfish player that put himself first and foremost in a sport that’s all about the team. He never made his teammates better and if he really harnessed his talent instead getting himself distracted with recreational marijuana use, then maybe he’d be a 14,000 yard rusher and a multi-time Pro Bowler that was a lock for Canton enshrinement. His Hall of Fame candidacy went up in smoke back in 2006.