Ricky Williams' Career Appears Over

Ricky Williams has apparently decided to hang it up for good, rather than try to return to the NFL after retiring a nanosecond before flunking a league-mandated drug test. AP writes:

The 1998 Heisman Trophy winner needed to let the league know his decision by Thursday so he could be moved from the retired list to the suspended list by the deadline. He would have served the suspension for the Miami Dolphins’ final four games, starting Dec. 12 at Denver.

“Ricky Williams has declined to accept the terms of his reinstatement,” NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said.

Those terms included a promise Williams would play next season and re-enter the NFL drug program immediately. He would have been tested on a regular basis.

“The NFL sought assurances that Ricky is indeed committed to playing,” said Cornwell, who would not disclose exactly why Williams decided against the deal.

Dolphins spokesman Harvey Greene wouldn’t comment, saying the matter is between Williams and the NFL.

Williams, 27, stunned his team by retiring shortly before Miami opened training camp in July. The Dolphins filed a lawsuit in federal court against the running back, seeking the $8.6 million an arbitrator ruled he owes the team for breaching his contract. Williams is fighting the decision.

He gave up the $5 million he would have earned this season, which would have been his sixth in the NFL, amid reports he faced suspension for substance abuse. He is now enrolled in a 17-month course at the California College of Ayurveda in Grass Valley, Calif., studying holistic medicine.

Williams has social-anxiety disorder and was a spokesman for an anti-depressant. He said marijuana helped him after he stopped using the anti-depressant.