LordOfEntropy

\"Does it make him more of a man to walk away from a contract, or more of a man to honor it when he\'d rather walk way from it?\"

The NFL is a business.

The contract states that you will -not- play football for any other NFL team during the contractural period, and that -if- you decide to play football for us during that contractual period, we\'ll pay you X number of dollars for doing it.

Declining that offer is not breaking a contract.

ScottyRo

I\'ve never read an NFL contract to know whether or not it terms things as you have here, but I don\'t think that each year is an offer to pay for play. I\'m pretty sure it is an obligation to play each season during the contractual period, but we\'re dealing with people here. In any other industry than entertainment the \"holding out\" for more money technique would never fly. If I agree by contract to pay $100 per football to a company to supply me with 100 footballs per month and that company later decided it wanted $110 instead, I could sue that company and force them to perform the contract as agreed.

When people are the object of the contract, you could get a court to enforce their performance but you have the problem of quality of that performance. It is usually better to just settle for monetary damages.

I would think the typical NFL contract has a provision written in to adapt to the problems we always hear about. In Ricky\'s position, there is probably a retirement clause. It wont let him out of his contract, but it means he doesn\'t have to play. When a team cuts a player, that was probably covered in the contract as a clause which allows the team to terminate the contract with or without cause.

I think Ricky is in line with his contract. If he were to try to play for another team, he\'d be breaching the terms of it, but, otherwise ,the NFL is not going to force someone to play.

I think he is just being selfish - not because he doesn\'t want to play, but because the Dolphins were counting on him to play and he chose now as the time to retire. By doing so Ricky has basically screwed over his teammates, coaches and team owner by not giving them an opportunity to adequately replace him during the offseason. Does anyone think the Dolphins have a chance of making the playoffs with the Rbs they have now? I think their chances would have been much better if they had Eddie George and they could have had him if Ricky would have given his notice even just a week earlier. Oh yeah, he screwed them big time and all for drugs too. It\'s a shame.

Danno

Nothing like leading 70 plus players and coaches on then quitting on them at the last second.

He accepted becoming one of the team captains, participated in every off-season event with enthusiasm and vigor, then stabbed them all in the back.

There\'s a fine line between retiring and quitting.

Rickey quit on 70 people who were depending on him probably more than anyone else on their team.

There\'s nothing to admire about that at all.

Loooooooooooo-Zer

LordOfEntropy

Correct. NFL teams can cut any player, any time, for any reason, with or without cause. Nor is any of the contractural salary ever guaranteed. The NFL is a business first and foremost. Fail to perform, and you\'ll get cut.

On the flip side, players can quit anytime. But players can only be sued for breach if a) they play for another team or b) they were pre-paid for services, but do not return the payment.

In Ricky\'s case, there are some incentives that will have to be paid back, as well part of the signing bonus.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmp...s&sid=95745805

\"Because of penalty clauses included when Williams\' contract was reworked two years ago, the team could try to recoup $5.3 million in incentive money, said sources familiar with the terms who requested anonymity. The Dolphins also could seek $3.3 million of the $8.8 million signing bonus Williams received when he joined the New Orleans Saints (news) in 1999, the sources said.\"

With regards to him screwing the Dolphins fans, well, I already expressed sympathy for those fans. But there\'s an article posted on Sportscolumn that pretty sums up how I view the issue:

http://www.sportscolumn.com/story/2004/7/25/12618/5898

\"Prisco goes on to talk about how selfish Ricky Williams is for leaving the Dolphins in a lurch. Pete, you\'re the one smoking the green now. How quickly would Miami cut his ass if he failed to produce or got hurt towards the end of his contract? There is no loyalty in the NFL because there are no guaranteed contracts. Ricky Williams doesn\'t owe the Dolphins a damn thing. What, he should\'ve told them a week earlier so they could get Eddie George? Right, Eddie George is going to solve the Dolphins RB problem. ....
.....I can\'t wait for the spate of articles from Miami fans crying about how much Ricky screwed them. Well, I\'m not sure if this makes you feel any better but you guys had no chance this year anyway. You were going to dethrone the Patriots and even beat the improved Jets with Jay Fiedler at QB? Please. \"

It\'s a business. Do I respect Williams for giving them such short notice? No. But do I respect him for following his own agenda, as opposed to the agendas of strangers? Yes.

can anyone help me id this tune? it goes thwap thwap boom tch boom tch boom tch.

Qui a laissez sortir les chiens!