At the age of 34, Ricky Williams is already ancient by the standards of NFL running backs. So he knows he doesn’t have much time left in his career.
But Williams, who signed with the Ravens today, says that he thinks Baltimore is a place where he can go out on his own terms — as a winner.
“Baltimore is a perennial playoff team,” Williams said on WQAM in Miami. “I’ve only been to the playoffs twice, and they were short trips. It’s a great opportunity, a wonderful way to end my career, so I am looking forward to it.”
Although he’s getting long in the tooth, Williams is still an effective runner: Last year with the Dolphins he carried 159 times for 673 yards. For his career, Williams has 9,565 rushing yards.
But for all he’s accomplished, Williams knows that a lot of people will look back at his time in the NFL and wonder what might have been. He made a bizarre decision to retire before the 2004 season, had to serve a four-game suspension when he returned in 2005, was suspended again for the entire 2006 season and played in only one game in 2007 because of a suspension and an injury.
“It’s been an amazing ride,” Williams said of his time in Miami. “I want to apologize for any hearts I broke. Hopefully, I was able to amend for that these last couple years.”