Ricky Williams was on track to be one of the great ones. More than that, really. He was on pace to be one of the greatest running backs to ever live. He was reclusive, sure, like say a mild Marshawn Lynch, but he was electric, playing for a good Dolphins team in a city thirsty for a major sports superstar. Thanks to Williams, the Saints were synonymous with entertaining football for a few years before they became known for “Who Dat” and having a torpedo-thrower for a quarterback in Drew Brees.
Then, Williams was traded to the Miami, and it looked as if he would explode into the biggest thing toting pigskin. A player of Williams’ caliber, in the prime of his career, in a city like Miami? Surely he’d be the face of the league in no time.
Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case. Though he enjoyed a couple stellar seasons as a Dolphin, Williams failed to make good on the potential the world saw in him as a New Orleans Saint, and he quickly fell out of both favor and the starting rotation. In the 7 seasons Williams played in Miami, he rushed for more than 1,000 yards in just 3 of them, and 2 of them came in his first two seasons with the team, while he was still fresh out of New Orleans.
Of course, we know that what attributed to that decline was Williams excessive weed habit, which helped him fail NFL drug tests at least four times. However, Williams says he was tested “at least” 500 times, which is an alarming amount, even for a repeat offender.
During a Sports Illustrated documentary called Ricky Williams Takes the High Road, the former NFL star revealed that he’d been tested over a half-thousand times by the league, and that his drug testers became such a familiar sight around the house they became pseudo-family members.
Insane.
You can watch a snippet of the documentary here.