http://msn.espn.go.com/nfl/news/2002/0307/1346922.html FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- Ricky Williams says he is heading to Miami. Williams told the Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel on Wednesday night he is headed to the Miami Dolphins in a trade that will net the New Orleans Saints nowhere near the cache of draft choices it gave up to get the Heisman Trophy winner three years ago. "I hear it's going to happen (Thursday)," Williams told the newspaper. "The Saints can't keep me now." The report said Saints general manager Randy Mueller told the New Orleans Times-Picayune that nothing was imminent. "We have agreed to talk a couple more times," Mueller told the Times-Picayune. "But right now, there's not a proposal out there we can agree to." According to the Sun-Sentinel, the Dolphins have offered the Saints their 2002 first- and fourth-round choices and a conditional 2003 third-round choice that could become a first- or second-round choice if Williams reaches certain incentives. In return, the Dolphins want a 2002 third-round choice. Williams, 24, was arrested last month for driving a staggering 126 miles per hour. He is considered somewhat of an eccentric, conducting interviews with his helmet on. However, Williams has rushed for 1,000 yards in each of the last two seasons, amassing 1,245 in 2001. Williams won the Heisman Trophy at Texas in 1998. Under orders from then-coach Mike Ditka, the Saints traded all of their draft selections to the Redskins to move up and select the NCAA's career rushing leader. However, Williams never meshed with the Saints. He suffered through an injury-plagued rookie season. Ditka was fired and replaced by Jim Haslett in 2000, when Williams rushed for 1,000 yards in another injury-shortened campaign. "I just think coach Haslett and I were never on the same page," Williams told the Sun-Sentinel. "We had different philosophies." The Dolphins need to upgrade their running game. Incumbent Lamar Smith averaged less than 3 yards a carry last season after a breakout 2000 campaign ------------- Dammit, thats 2 good players gone that the Texans could've made a grab at. Jacuez Green is up next.
what "list" are you using, because it's certainly not one the texans are using. hakim was never in their plans, jacquez green is not in their plans (in my best chandler bing: could you pick two bigger spares?) and there was never, ever, any chance the texans were going to trade their franchise QB for ricky williams.
Williams is vastly overrated. He is a solid RB. But he is not a playmaking RB who is a franchise player. If he was, surely New Orleans wouldn't be looking to trade him? Moreoever, Jacquez Green sucks. He is a good deep threat, but he has no concept of route running or good hands.
Agreed, the Texans 2nd pick isn't that much worse than the Fins 1st rounder they give up for Ricky, big difference than giving up the 1st overall pcik int he draft. I do think it was a great deal for Fins, Ricky is easily a top 10 back and maybe a top 5. The Fins suffered from not having enough offensive weapons, they just got a good one for a late 1st rounder plus a little more. Now if the Texas want Lamar Smith as a cheap FA--a servicable durable but not exactly explosive back--I think that would be a decent idea but I have a couple of better ones here. My first choice via FA is Micheal Pittman and 2nd Amos Zeroue--I would be willing to sign them to better contracts than someone with less explosiveness like Lamar or James Allen. Hearst would probably want too much money and is almost as old as Lamar (who should be much cheaper)--so no sense in looking there. If I couldn't land Pittman or Zeroue or a promising rookie or two or Lamar on the cheap, then I'd think about giving up my 4th round pick for O. Gary. But I have no illusions about him, I think there is a reason Denver would trade him before Anderson--he isn't as good. In fact his career average on the best team to run for over the recent years is almost a half yard behind Anderson or Davis. Similarly, Allen's was substantially below the rookie Thomas's average for the Bears.
OR, New Orleans is trading him because they're morons . . . which would fit in with their "Oh God! We're down three points, time to abandon the run!!" philosophy they exhibited the latter half of the season. Ricky Williams was among the leaders in the league at touchs per game, the Saints were winning. Ricky Williams does not get the ball, the Saints were losing. He wasn't overrated. And if you think Duece McCallister will replace Williams, well, I'm going to go into the corner and laugh for about ten minutes.
You must not have seen the Saints much, when Ricky's stonehands dropped a would be TD, against SF, that would have won the game basically. Williams is good, but he's far from great. His old teammate, Priest Holmes is better. Ricky is too reliant on his OL IMO to be a great RB. He very rarely actually breaks a tackle, he just leans forward and gets another half yard. Ricky is without a doubt the best RB I've seen in college. But in the NFL, there maybe 10 RB's I'd take before him. As for Deuce, he has hands, size, speed, and power that will remind people of Edgerrin James. I don't know if he'll break out this year or not, but he will be a Top 5 RB. Not to mention that he's a very good blocker.
I'm going to disagree. If the Saints defense could've stopped San Fran's rushing attack, the Saints win that game in a rout, whether or not Ricky catches that TD or not. And having experience watching both Priest and Ricky, Ricky is much, much better, but Priest is with a coach that understands how to use him better. As far as not breaking tackles, I'm going to disagree there too, if he didn't break tackles, he wouldn't rack up the kind of yardage he does from carries 20 and onward. As far as Duece, he is nothing like Edgerrin James, he's fast with good hands, thats it. And he was injury-prone in college, how healthy will he be in the pros. And Duece is a terrible blocker, and will never be a top 5 RB.
I wouldn't necessarily say that Williams is over-rated, but he would have been the wrong move for this franchise, imo. The Texans would have to give up depth for him, depth that the team desperately needs. And with Ricky, without Ricky, this team simply isn't going to be that good. When it starts getting good, Ricky will already be declining. Not to mention that he's kinda nutty. It was definitly cool watching Ricky run through people in college. I'll be rooting for him in Miami. Hakim would have been good had he been cheap, Green kinda sucks, cheap or no. Just get cheap fillers at the skill postitions, through draft or fagency. They have a few years to fill those postions with pretty good picks anyway. Can't wait til the draft.
Kidrock, As a diehard longhorn fan I just want to say you are dead wrong on ricky. He carried that saints offense last year, without him they suck period. Watch Mcallister be injury prone and not a big time player, it'll serve him right. As far as priest holmes, he's a fellow Longhorn but no way he's better than ricky. Ricky is a complete back, the only advantages Priest may have is speed and catching, but if I was building my team, I want ricky carrying my offensive load. Vastly overrated, my ass, without him the saints would've been 4-12 or worse-he carried that team on his back last year as brooks struggled and horn did not duplicate his numbers from last year. Ricky williams is one of the top 5 running backs in football and gm's will kick themselves for not pursuing him while the getting is good.
For one thing... Since when has Ricky not been injury prone? I know Deuce has been injury prone, and that basically is the only reason why he slipped to #22 or whatever pick he was. Ricky isn't exactly an iron man himself, so in this case it's like Rae Carruth calling OJ a murderer. Another thing is, that what does Ricky do that makes him a "complete" back? He can run straight... So what? So can Dominic Rhodes of Indy. And because you're a diehard Longhorn fan, that means you're views on Ricky are right? If anything that loses you credibility. Especially when you are trying to tell me that Ricky is a durable RB. Ricky does not make plays whether its running or pass catching. Ricky has improved his pass catching skills, but it doesn't really matter since he doesn't have the speed to turn a 3 yard pass into anything more than 6-7 yards. I don't think Ricky really makes something out of nothing. He basically takes what the OL gives him.
Injury prone? What the hell, check his college records he never was hurt. It's called freak accidents. I think you are underestimating ricky big time and I'm not afraid to tell you so. I watched both him and priest and UT and there is no doubt Ricky is better, not that priest is shabby at all. If ricky was simply an O-Line RB, explain his college success. UT is known for recruiting pass-blocking o-lineman with decent run blocking skills. This is me with my burnt orange blinders on, but come on you aren't even giving ricky any credit and that's bull****. The saints offense would've been **** without him last year and you know it. I'm not saying he's better than marshall faulk or anything but he compares very favorably to guys like james. The indy offense wouldn't miss a beat with him in instead of Edge, sorry to disappoint you.
Yes, because Ricky is able to turn 5 yard pases into 40 yarders? Get real. Also, I don't care if Ricky was healthy in college. I said before Ricky is the greatest college RB I've ever seen. He is not healthy in the NFL, which is what I am talking about. I know that you will next tell me that Ricky was healthy in Pop Warner football too.
Why would Deuce getting injured "serve him right"? I realize you're a Ricky fan, but wishing ill on Deuce because Ricky was traded ain't cool. And I do seem to remember Ricky having his fair share of injuries in the pros, but I wouldn't call him injury prone per say. Jamal Anderson, TD, Crowell, guys like them, who can barely get on the field are injury prone.
http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/players/stats?statsId=4653 This was his first year of being somewhat healthy. He did at least play in all 16 games. But you can't tell me that he was healthy when he played 10 games his rookie year, and 12 the next year. I don't care if you went or go to UT, you should know that 38 games out of 48 possible career games is not healthy.
Dude, don't wish ill will on someone undeserving of it. I met McAllister last year at our rookie shoot, and he's a really nice guy who was down to earth and laid back. I think he'll be a good (if not great) player in the NFL. He's got good speed and good hands. He was a great "receiving" running back at Ole Miss, and I think he can make it big at the pro level. I wish him all the luck. Now, if only he'd switch back to #22 ("Double Deuce") like he told me he was going to...
I won't wish will ill on deuce, but I will wish will ill on the saints organization period, because they are being stupid which follows their history, honestly. Deuce was knicked up a lot at ole miss anyway. Besides the point, the rant was directed at the saints organization not mcallister(poor wording), but I will be very surprised if deuce gives them near the production ricky does, not that he can't be solid. I just don't want the saints succeeding period and plus I want people to see how valuable Ricky was to that team. I thought the saints had changed into potentially a model franchise, boy was I wrong. 38 out of 48 may not be healthy, but 6 of those were on a broken ankle, that was a freak accident. 38 out of 42 isn't too bad is it?
