Ricky is NFL’s most intriguing RB

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Ricky is NFL’s most intriguing RB

By Edgar Thompson | Wednesday, July 23, 2008, 08:57 AM

Ricky Williams is a lot of things. Boring isn’t one of them.

USA Today list Williams as most intriguing of five RBs entering the season. Reggie Bush is next.

Williams’ off-the-field problems and free-thinking ways add to the intrigue. But from a football standpoint, he also could be one of the season’s most compelling comeback stories.

Back for yet another chance, Williams looks to be in fantastic shape and with the right mind-set. It’s not easy to become a Bill Parcells’ favorite, which Williams seems to have done this off-season.

Do you think Ricky still has a 1,000-yard season left in him? What do you think the over-under on yards for Ricky is?

Maybe, 850 yards?

He’s 31-years-old, has only six carries since 2005 and will be sharing carries with Ronnie Brown.

Williams had 743 yards on 168 carries in 2005, splitting carries with Brown who had 907 yards on 207 attempts.

Williams could get a bigger share of the workload for awhile, as Brown continues to recover from ACL surgery. Also, in 2005 Gus Frerotte and Co. attempted 556 passes, which would be an awful lot to expect of this crop of Dolphins’ QBs.

In Williams two big years, 2002 and 2003, the Dolphins averaged 453 pass attempts. This year’s team hopes to be a ball-control running team like those.

But most RBs Williams’ age are slowing way down.

Curtis Martin had 1,697 rushing yards in 2004 when he was 31. Walter Payton and Emmitt Smith had back-to-back 1,000 yard seasons at 31 and 32. John Riggins had more than 1,200 yards at ages 34 and 35.

Those Hall of Fame talents are the exceptions.

Eric Dickerson, O.J. Simpson, Marcus Allen and Thurman Thomas are the norm, never sniffing 1,000 yards at age 31 and beyond.