JOESAM2002

Raiders | R. Williams Would 'Love' To Return With Oakland - from www.KFFL.com
Thu, 5 Aug 2004 09:20:18 -0700

Armando Salguero, of the Miami Herald, reports retired RB Ricky Williams has told Sports Illustrated that he would "love it" if he returned to football and play for the Oakland Raiders as early as next year. Williams added that California would be the only place fans would accept him because there are "crazy fans who would expect a weirdo." Williams told the Herald that he heard rumors of Oakland offering the Dolphins a first-round pick to get his rights and called the idea of playing for the Raiders "interesting." If Williams returns, he will face a league fine and penalty for violating the NFL's substance abuse policy. While the Raiders would have to trade for Williams since the Miami Dolphins still owns his rights, Dolphins general manager Rick Spielman has said "no one" called the Dolphins for interest in acquiring Williams.

Can you believe this?

ScottyRo

I honestly believed he wanted to be a retiree. Now I have to think he wanted a year off and to force Miami to trade him. This makes much more sense than the \"retirement\" deal. If I were the Miami GM, I\'d be working on the trade right now.

Danno

Sometimes its better to shut-up and have people think you might be a moron than spout off and remove all doubt.

I\'m actually becoming embarrassed for him and his family.

It was ALL about the NFL intruding on his privacy, but now it appears he\'s willing to submit to the man if he can play in Oakland?

Haz may never shake the LeRoi Glover mistake but it appears he\'s been vindicated on the Rickey Williams move as well as several other decisions some here have bashed him for making.

I wonder, do the Raiders allow their players to smoke dope?

ScottyRo

I wonder about Randy Mueller. From what I understand Benson fired him for making the Williams trade without consulting with Benson first. So, the trade he got fired for making turns out to be the best possible move the org could have made.

But let\'s not leave Randy out of the Glover debacle. It was his decision to try and keep Johnson over Glover, then he lost out on Johnson to the Packers.

I am still disappointed that Randy was fired and I think the Saints have been a lesser team because of it. It\'s just sad that Benson let his pride get in the way of keeping one of the two best GMs the Saints ever had.

PHARMDHU

Say what you want to say about the new regime of Has and Mueller but when have there been such high realistic expectations of the Saints. First people complained why draft Deuce when you just traded your draft for Ricky. Hmmm, you now have a future Hall of Famer and the other guy is in Asia. Why Will Smith when you have Charles Grant and Darren Howard. Great teams shape their rosters for the long-term (the current season and beyond). Good teams only think for this season. Yes the Saints have underachieved, but when was the last time the Saints even were close to being given national spotlight before Has and Co came. Joe Horn was a steal of a pickup. The Aaron B trade was a steal. This regime has come a long way. Yes they do underachieve but we used to be in the gutter. Now we only have one street free agent (M. Lewis) starring on our team instead of a team full of street free agents who can\'t study their playbooks in Buffalo.(Tolliver)

WhoDat

IMO Randy Mueller\'s only fault was that he made bold moves in an organization with an owner who likes to be completely in control. Some decisions Mueller made were not great, but in the NFL you always win some - lose some. Overall, Mueller brought a LOT of talent this way and made the team better. Problem was, he had a big ego and thought he knew football better than Benson. Well, he did, but Benson\'s boss and if he says, \"ask me first,\" you ask the man. No one was 100% right or wrong in the situation, I just wish the two clowns could have worked together. As talented as we are now, I think we would be even more so if Mueller had stuck around.

\"Excuses, excuses, excuses. That’s all anyone ever makes for the New Orleans Saints’ organization.\" - Eric Narcisse


\"Being a Saints fan is almost like being addicted to crack,\" he said.[i]\"You know you should stop, but you just can\'t.\"

ScottyRo

Ok, it took a little time for me to feel insulted by this. In what way didn\'t the fans of New Orleans accept Ricky?

It couldn\'t have been the thousands and thousands of #34 jerseys that were sold.
Or the constant autograph seeking.
Or the \"Run Ricky Run\" chants.

I don\'t know any Saints fan that didn\'t respect his talent and root for him when he was with the Saints. Heck, most of us were rooting for him his first year in Miami too, but for different reasons.

If anyone didn\'t accept him, it was the media. If he expects that to change in California, he might as well stay in Asia.

CheramieIII

I don\'t think Ricky really knows what he wants. He probably has alot of people around him telling him what to do and he seems very confused. Maybe he needs to go to Tibet and train with the monks for a few years and then comeback when he actually has a clue as to what he\'s doing.

If he wanted to be traded why not demand it, worst case scenario is he would have sat out the year anyway, but the public would have respected him alot more.