Five years isn't enough to build a legacy
Yahoo! Sports' analyst Cris Carter, a resident of South Florida, reacts to the news of Ricky Williams' retirement from the Miami Dolphins.
Yahoo! Sports: Did you have any inkling at all that this might happen?
Cris Carter: No. I think only people in Williams' inner circle knew. Dan Le Batard of The Miami Herald also is a good friend of Ricky Williams. He does a radio show with Ricky during the season, and it makes sense that he was the first guy to break the story.
I know that (coach) Dave Wannstedt and (GM) Rick Spielman are trying to talk Williams out of the whole idea, but it looks like he's made up his mind about discontinuing his pro football career.
Y! Sports: Like all players, you had to make the difficult decision to retire. It wasn't easy for you. Each player has to make his own decision, but what might cause a player to want to retire when he would seem to have so many productive years ahead of him?
Carter: Well, one thing that we have to make sure is that we don't compare this situation to some of the great players who have played and had short careers.
There's no comparison between Ricky and Jim Brown's careers, or Barry Sanders, Gale Sayers and Earl Campbell. More recently, I don't think you can even compare him with my old teammate, Robert Smith, who had a longer career and had established himself as a premier running back for several years prior to retiring.
Ricky Williams had one great year.
To me, this decision sends up a red flag that maybe something is going on that we don't know about that would cause him not to have interest in playing football any longer.
Y! Sports: What's Williams' legacy if in fact he doesn't play anymore? Can you play only five years and have a legacy?
Carter: I don't think you can have a legacy with five years, unless you rush for 1,500 yards five years (which he did just once) or something tragic takes you away from the game or you come up with some mission in life that is far more important than playing football.
He was a Heisman Trophy winner, and I'm sure that leaves him with some kind of legacy. But I believe every person has a gift, and I believe – as long as everything is OK with Ricky physically, and I hope it is – I believe that the fans are the big losers in this one.
We should be watching him run with the football in the National Football League for the next seven or eight years.
Y! Sports: Especially Dolphins fans. So before we let you go, what do the Dolphins do now?
Carter: They have huge problems. Chris Foerster is a new offensive coordinator. Dave Wannstedt already was under huge pressure to win. If it doesn't happen this year, folks think it will be his last year.
They went out and got A.J. Feeley, and he hasn't looked great in offseason workouts. Jay Fiedler has looked better (than Feeley).
You take away their No. 1 weapon on offense in Ricky Williams, throw in an average offensive line with some question marks, and they are going to be a very, very mediocre football team without Ricky Williams.
