Ricky Don't Lose That Number

One story worth mentioning, is the career of Miami Dolphins running back Ricky Williams. After many failed drug tests and countless suspensions, the once upon a time league leading rusher seems to finally be getting his life and more specifically his career back on track. Williams, a former 5th overall draft choice by the New Orleans Saints in the 1999 NFL Draft, was the NFL's top running back at one point in time when he led the league with 1,853 rushing yards in 2002. Since then, Ricky has had limited success, but none matching the numbers he had in his 2002 season. Since that year, Williams has had a whirlwind of an adventure, mainly highlighted by an early retirement from the game in 2004 after what would become the first of many failed drug tests.

Williams made a return to the game in 2005, and was again suspended for violating the league's drug policy, this time for the entire 2006 NFL season. The suspension then resulted in a brief stint in the Canadian Football League with the Toronto Argonauts, where Williams was plagued with a number of injuries. After another failed drug test in 2007, Williams began practicing yoga which has since then helped him stop using marijuana. Ricky made his return in November of '07 and similar to years past, he sustained an injury in his first game back. The injury would then cause him to miss the rest of the season. The 2008 NFL season was a quiet one for Ricky, as he only started 3 games resulting in a career-low 659 yards.

A new year means new opportunities and that's exactly what Williams has had in the first half of the 2009 NFL season. All season long, Ricky has shared snaps in the wild-cat formation with teammate and fellow running back Ronnie Brown. But just 2 weeks ago, Brown went down with an injury, opening the window of opportunity for Ricky Williams. In just his first start of the season last week against Carolina, Williams led the team to a 24-17 victory. Williams scored all three of Miami's touchdowns and ran for a season high 119 rushing yards to go along with 2 rushing touchdowns and 1 touchdown reception. The solid performance also included a career first, as Williams scored rushing and receiving touchdowns for the first time in his NFL career.

With teammate Ronnie Brown scheduled to have surgery, we wait & see if Williams can continue to turn his career around and keep the Miami offense afloat. With that being said, we wish him all the luck!